Subject Unknown
by Aggressively Hospitable
Summary: "You don't necessarily show the best judgement when beautiful women are involved." Foggy had said. "If there is a stunning woman with questionable character in the room, Matt Murdock is going to find her and Foggy Nelson is gonna suffer." Foggy had always been right about that. Post Season 2 Matt/OC Foggy/OC KASTLE Rated M for language, violence, occasional smut and the like.
1. New Base

Subject Unknown

Lady Sephira walked into the office space with her entourage, looking it over before looking at her companion's reactions. Her large enfolded umbrella acted like a cane for her since her recent wounds caused her to limp every so slightly.

"Thoughts?" She inquired as they seemed to gather together to regroup.

"The windows are nice, gives a decent view." Gidjet noted.

"The wiring is weak, it would need work to get it up to bar." Chatter commented, taking another look at the outlets with wary disapproval.

"I know it's newly renovated but it would need more modification for your security detail." Shadow pointed out as she gestured to the newly painted walls.

"I second that," Chatter added.

"Also, don't forget we need enough space and structure support for the kitchen which would eat up half of this space by itself." Gidjet reminded the group; to which she received solemn nods.

"Although, on the plus side we are in an area of town that the helicopters would be on the inconspicuous side. This part of the city is becoming gentrified." Chatter chimed as she noticed a helicopter fly past.

"And we have complete access to the roof." Shadow nodded.

"How much would it cost to have this as a new base?" Lady Sephira asked the group.

"I would need 200k just for rewiring and another mill and a half for structure support, add to that- 5 million for equipment for the tech department." Chatter roughly appraised.

"I would need at least 1.5 mill for the hidden doors and rooms. Another quarter mill for aesthetic." Shadow shrugged.

"I would need _at least_ 10 mill for my lab," Gidjet answered.

"Bishop?" Lady Sephira addressed the only male in the group who had kept silent up to that point.

"It's doable, we have the money to make the space our own. It's just a matter of whether you want to wait for all the work to get done or not." Bishop explained.

"How are we looking on our time table?" Lady Sephira asked the group.

"Honestly, we could be doing better but waiting to get the perfect space to better fit our needs might take longer than if we get this space and make it fit." Gidjet ventured.

"Neighbors?" Lady Sephira inquired.

"A few big wigs here and there, a new lawyer firm and a private investigator below us, shouldn't be anything more than passing curiosity, there is however a few vigilantes that might take interest." Shadow answered.

"Who are they and what do we know about them?" Lady Sephira questioned.

"The first of note is what used to be known as the Man in Black, now known as Daredevil, no known super powers other than kicking ass. He sticks to Hells Kitchen mostly, his main targets are generally speaking, bad guys, you know the crooks and robbers and all that jazz, as well as The Hand, not to mention Mr. Fisk and his associates. The second is Frank Castle..." Shadow began listing off from pages in her portfolio.

"Our friend? Why is he in your list?" Lady Sephira cut off.

"Because he is an associate of Mr. Fisk," Shadow furthered. "He has become known as The Punisher,"

"Fitting," Chatter smirked.

"Anyone else?" Sephira intimated.

"Throughout New York City, there's Jessica Jones who's apparently super strong, who recently took out The Man in Purple who was causing absolute mayhem with his mind control." Shadow continued.

"Thank God she killed him. I'm so happy we were on the other side of the planet," Chatter interrupted.

Shadow raised an eyebrow, fixing Chatter with an impatient look.

"Sorry," Chatter apologized.

Shadow cleared her throat and went on. "In Harlem, there's Luke Cage, he's bullet proof and he also has super human strength. However a weapons provider that goes by the name of Diamondback has come up with a bullet, the Judas Bullet that was made from the metal of Chitauri ships and armor that got left behind from the 'incident'." Shadow furthered.

"Of which we still have mass quantities." Gidjet reminded them.

"We do, but getting back to the topic, there is also Iron Fist, however we know very little about him other than he seems to be a martial arts expert." Shadow concluded.

"Very well, anyone else?" Sephira repeated.

"The Avengers," Gidjet sighed, a bit wistfully.

"Vigilantes, not Super Heroes." Bishop clarified, unamused.

"They are a bit of both, let's do our best to stay off everyone's radar." Lady Sephira placated before looking around at the space one more time. "If the landlord will allow us to rent a few more floors for training spaces, the kitchen, more office space and medics, make the necessary adjustments like the helipad for the roof and so forth, we'll take the space." Sephira decided unilaterally.

"Got it," Bishop nodded before looking at his watch. "Princess get's off of school in 20."

"We should get going," Lady Sephira nodded as she started for the door, her entourage following closely after.

Two weeks later Matt Murdock inwardly groaned as he came into his now empty office. He missed having Karen and Foggy there, his former best friends that were now, at best, people he used to know. Not to mention clients lined up, needing his help. Suddenly groups of guys started flooding into the building, packing the elevator to capacity for a good hour before demolition started upstairs. He leaned back into his office chair and groaned again, this time out loud. He wondered how long he would hear hammers, power-tools and the mindless banter of construction workers this time around. He opened his laptop to hear he had a new message, one from the landlord, informing him that the property had sold to another investor but that they would honor all contracts that were still out.

"Great," Matt huffed.

That afternoon however, he heard somewhat familiar voices. He rose and went to the door, just as Miss. Mindy knocked.

"Hello Mr. Murdock, I wanted to tell you that our firm did end up getting those floors above you after all and so we sent a fruit basket and things over as an apology for the noise we're going to be making." She said apologetically as she moved to hand the basket to him before she brought it back to herself. "It is a bit heavy, do you mind if I set it down on that desk behind you?" She inquired.

"Sure," Matt invited as he moved to the side.

"Oh and this is my associate, Lady..." Mindy began.

"Just call me Nova," Lady Sephira interrupted as she came into the room with her friend.

"Pleasure to meet you." Matt said as he held his hand out to shake hers. His ultra sensitive hearing had no problems picking up on Nova's physical anomaly, her double heart, it beat in tandem at a slightly lower rate than that of any other person at rest.

"The pleasure is all mine," Nova replied cordially as she handed her gift boxes of chocolate and things to Miss Mindy to put on the desk.

"So where is the Nelson in 'Nelson and Murdock'?" Miss. Mindy asked after she arranged their gifts on the table.

"He left to join another firm," Matt answered, the sting from the reality of the situation still strong as ever.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Nova nodded in understanding before she heard her daughter coming down the hall looking for her.

"In here sweetie," Nova called out before her daughter came into view of the door way.

"Mr. Murdock, this is my daughter Halah, Layla is her nickname and our friend Mr. Nagi who was awesome enough to pick her up from school for me." Nova introduced, waving them in.

"Call me Bishop," Mr. Findlay said as he shook Matt's hand.

"Hi," Layla said tentatively as she shook Matt's hand slowly with a feather light touch before going to the comfort of her mother's frame.

"So how long do you think it will take to renovate?" Matt asked as he heard very loud hammering above him.

"Hopefully they will be done in six weeks or so, I hope it won't drive away any business for you, if it does, please don't hesitate to let me know and I'll take care of it, here's our business card, Mindy informed us that you were blind so we made a braille one." Nova offered.

Matt took the card and read it. Voxhe Temptet- it gave a phone number and email address. Not much else to it. It was quite thick though, Matt assumed it was to take on the braille.

"Well we should get going, it was nice to meet you Mr. Murdock," Nova repeated, shaking his hand again before they all left. Nova was the last out and knocked on the door frame three times.

True to their word within five and a half weeks, all the construction was done. No wonder since they were divided up between four six hour shifts working around the clock. From what Matt overheard, the new firm paid handsomely. He was even reimbursed for 'lost business', that he didn't even ask for but Nova had insisted and he found the ability to say no to her was challenging to say the least.

A few weeks earlier…

Matt was surprised to find Nova leaning against the wall, waiting on him to come into the office. Even though he could smell her about the same time he could hear her heart beat. She had been in a market of some kind, fresh exotic fruit lingered on her as well as her unusually pleasant, if not intoxicating perfume.

"Good morning Mr. Murdock." She greeted when she saw him walking toward her.

"Good morning." Matt replied. "Can I help you?" Matt inquired, hearing to the unique sound her double heart gave off.

"Yes actually, but I'll wait for you to go in and get settled." Nova replied, as she nodded toward his office door.

"No need, come in," Matt invited as he unlocked and opened the door, gesturing for her to walk in.

"Thank you," Nova replied walking in before turning to him, opening her small portfolio and pulling out a check. "This is for you," Nova informed him as she handed him a piece of paper.

"What is it?" Matt asked, taking the paper from her.

"It's a check to cover the inconvenience and loss of business you've had due to our construction and noise upstairs." Nova explained.

"I haven't really…" Matt started.

"Yes you have, just please take the check and cash it, deposit it, I'll feel better about the inconvenience I'm causing you." Nova interrupted determinedly.

"Ok," Matt gave in.

"Thank you Mr. Murdock." Nova replied, the relief clear in her voice. "Have a nice day Mr. Murdock," Nova began before taking a step toward the door.

"Matthew, my name is Matthew, you can call me Matt if you would like." Matt clarified.

"I would," Nova smiled, a warmth coming to her tone that Matt couldn't help but smile at himself. "We should hang out sometime." Nova invited.

"Sure," Matt nodded.

Nova nodded in agreement but didn't say anything as she walked out, again, knocking on the door frame three times as she did so.

Back to the present...

Her check had set him up for months along with staying there rent free while the construction was going on. However, one morning he heard a scuffle and a few cries of pain from a voice he was almost certain was Nova's.

He quickly got his cane and went upstairs, his heart racing as it seemed to get louder and more brutal. He was able to locate their office, barging in the door, expecting to find people dead on the ground.

"Can I help you?" A woman asked, her face glued to her large computer screen, not even bothering to turn away.

"I heard..." Matt began before the woman looked up.

"Oh, Mr. Murdock, I'm sorry, is everything ok?" She asked as she got up and walked around her desk and came toward him hurriedly.

"I heard a fight," Matt spurted.

"Oh, I'm sorry for that, it's a demonstration, we are a security consultation and assessment firm after all, we should have put more or at least better sound dampeners in the floors, here let me show you around. I'm Triple," She said, taking his arm and lead him off trying give him a tour of the place.

"Triple?" Matt repeated in confusion.

"Oh my 'real' name is Valentina but here we choose our own names, I chose Triple because I am a triple threat, the singing, the dancing the whole nine yards." Triple beamed before a loud thud was heard from behind the double doors at the end of the hallway.

"Yeah she's not going to give that guy a break, he made a bit of a degrading remark, I hope he regrets it now, 'cupcake'," she snorted in derision.

"Called who what now?" Matt inquired.

"Oh our boss, Lady Sephira, she doesn't look nearly as strong as she is so she invited him to see why her training programs turned out the best security personnel, man or woman and he made the grave mistake of taking her up on it." Triple explained as she walked up to the door and knocked three times, the same way Nova had done in his office.

Shadow opened the door and looked from Triple to Mr. Murdock and back to Triple with an expectant look.  
"Oh Chatter?" Triple all but sang out.

Chatter came into view and nodded to Shadow to let them in.

"Hello Mr. Murdock, I take it there should be more sound proofing above your office, I apologize." Miss. Mindy, apparently known as Chatter deduced as she took his arm and led him to the side of the room, in the middle of which Nova was doing hand to hand combat with a guy who was twice her size and getting angrier by the minute.

Bishop looked over his shoulder at them before turning back to his business partner "Nova, end this quickly and nicely please," he requested.

Nova didn't even bother to look at Bishop but kept her focus on her angry opponent about to come after her.

"K," She called out before she hunkered down and used the own guys' momentum to crash him into the floor. She moved so quickly that to the others it was almost like she was a bit of blur. Within seconds she rendered him a pile of unconscious mass on her floor.

"Like that?" Nova asked as she grabbed the outstretched towel from Bishop and wiped off the sweat from her forehead.

"Just like that," Bishop confirmed with a grin as the offender's companions came to his aid.

"Oh…um. Mr. Murdock, I didn't realize you had joined us." Nova said awkwardly as she noticed him there.

"I heard a fight, I just wanted to make sure everything was ok." Matt explained.

Nova grimaced at that. "Shadow, please ensure that sound dampeners are placed either on or below all floor surfaces, I want to be able to set off fireworks in here and the neighbors to barely hear anything." Nova ordered.

"Si Patron," Shadow answered, slipping back into her native tongue.

"Chatter, please make sure our esteemed guest is taken care of, I'm going to go freshen up." Nova delegated before leaving the space to her office suite.

Matt was given the grand tour before being led to the common space where the other associates had gathered since their clients had been escorted out of their office.

After the introductions Nova walked in with a tray of sushi and sashimi much to the delight of her associates.

"So what did mister big britches decide?" Nova asked the group.

"He said he'll get back to us." Bishop answered.

Nova barked a laugh at that. "It's a good thing we made him sign that waiver then huh?"

"Can I get you some sushi or sashimi Mr. Murdock?" Chatter inquired from Matt.

"No thank you," He declined.

"We have a ton of food, surely we can get you something, I make a mean sandwich." Nova offered.

"She does," Several in the group chimed in.

"Ok," Matt agreed.

"I want one too!" the others had said in unison.

Nova shook her head before heading into the adjoining kitchen and pulled out a loaf of fresh bread and slicing it before getting out the various meat and cheeses, lettuces and condiments before whipping up a dozen sandwiches and bringing them out on a tray and setting them on the table next to the sushi. She took a small plate and put one on it and placed it in front of him with some freshly squeezed lemonade to drink along with it.

Matt had tasted only a few things that were as delicious as this. It tasted like there was a delicatessen in that kitchen.

"Pasha," Nova addressed.

"Yes?" Pasha replied expectantly.

"Can you add lunch meat and cheese, lettuce blends and sandwich spreads to the grocery list?" Nova asked.

"Of course," Pasha nodded. "Oh and don't let me forget more passion fruit, we've been going through it like crazy," Pasha added.

"Salmon wings should be coming into season too." Chatter added. Collective 'oohs' were heard throughout the room.

"Salmon wings?" Matt queried.

"When salmon is harvested and processed, the throat, also known as the collar, underneath the front fins is cut away, a lot of people just throw it away along with the guts but a few processors are saving them and smoking them, think fish jerky." Chatter explained. "When we get some in we'll invite you over again." Chatter offered.

"Any luck with any cases?" Nova inquired.

"Not yet," Matt answered.

"That's unfortunate, if you need anything, we will be happy to assist in any way we can," Nova offered.

"Nova, your 11 is here," Shadow interrupted as she came into the room. "All of you should get back to work," Shadow suggested to the rest of them.

"Yes slave driver," Pasha uttered under her breath with an eye roll.

"Was that insubordination?" Shadow challenged.

"No," Pasha sighed.

"Then get to it," Shadow urged.

"I'll walk you back," Chatter invited as she stood, leading Matt back to his office.

"So what's up with the nick names?" Matt inquired.

"Oh, that's just a thing we have, either you pick or people will come up with them for you, like Bishop loves chess, Gidjet is an inventor and me, I'm a chatter box," Chatter explained.

"And Nova?" Matt inquired.

"I couldn't tell you that one. That's all I've ever known her as. Shadow has been with the company since the beginning. She would know I think." Chatter answered, a well rehearsed lie, her heart rate barely budged. But Matt still caught it.

"Oh and on Mondays we tend to do seafood, Tuesdays tend to be either Mexican or Latin American food and we always have steak on Fridays." Chatter informed him.

"Why..." Matt began.

"Just to let you know what we may be having on any given day for when you come back and join us for lunch." Chatter smiled. "Have a good day Mr. Murdock." Chatter said as she turned and knocked three times on the door frame before disappearing.

* * *

 _Author's notes-_

 _This is unbetaed. I was rewatching Daredevil, both seasons on Netflix while taking a break from writing because my personal life took many, many hits. (One example, my best friend's dad dropped dead from a heart attack right in front of her) and so my outlook on life is a little darker and this will show in my writing. So I took my story 'Secrets' and 'Subject Unknown' and mashed them together, if you had read either one, some of this may be familiar but it's been put through a darker reality filter. Also of note, the only white people in this story are Matt, Karen, Foggy and Frank Castle. I am doing my best to do as much research and making this as multi-cultural as possible. So if I mess up and get things wrong PLEASE tell me and I'll fix it as soon as I can._

 _Now with all my stories, I try to write them as if you're watching a movie, so I've 'casted' some people._

 _Nova- Priyanka Chopra_

 _Bishop- Naveen Andrews_

 _Shadow- Zoe Saldana_

 _Chatter- Candice Patton_

 _Gidjet- Lupita Nyong'o_

 _Pasha- Peeya Rai Chowdhary_

 _Triple- Indira Varma_

 _I believe that's all I introduced in this first chapter, there will be other characters appearing and when they do I'll list them then._


	2. Threat

Subject Unknown

Chapter 2

"Ooh so what did you bring for us today?" Chatter asked as she saw Nova in the kitchen, unloading seafood out of crates and into the fish and seafood refrigerator in the kitchen.

"Scallops, oysters, grouper, salmon, king fish and flounder," Nova answered. "Here, help me with this smoked salmon," She invited.

"Sure," Chatter replied happily.

"So I take it Mr. Murdock got back to his office alright," Nova ventured after they loaded four fillets of smoked salmon into the fridge.

"Yeah, he asked about the nick name thing," Chatter replied.

"And?" Nova inquired.

"I told him I got Chatter from being a chatter box," Chatter answered.

"Ok, that's good, thank you." Nova nodded.

"He did ask how you got your nick name tho." Chatter added. "I told him that I didn't know."

"Did he believe you?" Nova asked, stilling her motions to look Chatter in the eye.

"I think so." Chatter nodded.

"Alright, I'm going back to get more, keep me posted," Nova said, wheeling the dolly with the now empty food crates back into the middle of the kitchen and disappearing into thin air with it.

"Didn't even ask me if I wanted to come along, rude," Chatter joked, shaking her head as she went to the drinks refrigerator to grab some orange juice to go with her bagel.

She walked back to her 'office' which she shared with Gig who did her job at night.

"Good morning Gig," Chatter greeted as she set her breakfast snack down on the desk and wheeled her chair over to it.

"Good morning Chatter," Gig greeted with a warm if not a little sleepy, smile. "We had a Daredevil incident," he enticed.

"Ooh ooh, where?" Chatter demanded, looking at the city map on one of the larger computer screens.

"Here, an attempted mugging, VIC was a 35yr old woman with a child," Gig informed her as he pointed to a red circle over an enhanced top view of the city.

"People have no respect, especially for children these days," Chatter shook her head.

"Tell me about it, anyway, Daredevil, gets the jump on the two baddies, breaks elbows, knees and seven ribs between them." Gig laid out.

"Oh, a man after my own heart." Chatter cheers. "And the VIC?"

"Other than her child getting the living daylights scared out of him, they're ok," Gig assured her.

"Good, anything else?" Chatter inquired.

"Everything else is in here," Gig answered as he handed her a large binder of read outs from every frequency they monitored. "That was the only thing I knew you would want me to inform you of in person."

"Sweet, thank you, get some sleep, Nova just stocked the seafood refrigerators, said she got oysters." Chatter informed him as she took the binder and started her overview as she began to eat her breakfast.

"Her name should be Genie, she makes all our wishes come true." Gig hummed happily as he logged out of his computer. "See you tomorrow," Gig said as he pushed back from his desk, grabbed his back pack before leaving with the rest of the night shift.

Chatter looked over the information before peering more closely at a few of the pages. "Is that...a pattern?" Chatter whispered to herself before she got called out of her office.

A few weeks later Nova was awoken to the sound of her dogs growling before barking ferociously, she sat up in bed with a gasp before guys in full on battle gear burst into her apartment, shot her four large dogs, swarmed her and her daughter and kidnapped them in the middle of the night. They were taken to a basement of some kind where they were separated.

"Shit, shit, shit," Nova cursed under her breath as she reached for her fidget ring and twisted it around her finger in a pattern, praying Gig would pick up on it and a rescue would be ensuing soon.  
All she had to do was keep them there and talking and keep Layla out of as much danger as she could.

What she didn't know was Daredevil had heard the gun shots and had followed the sound. He picked up on her heart beat, that double heart of hers put out a hell of a sound when she was distressed.

He came just as the perps took her hood off.

"So we meet again Lady Sephira, or should we say 'Nova'?" The leader, his thick Eastern European accent coming through.

"Nova is what my friends can call me, to you I'm Lady Sephira," Nova answered angrily. "Now if you're looking to prove a point, fine, you caught me, but you leave my daughter out of this," Nova snarled.

"Oh I think our employers will be happy to know that 'Subject Unknown' now has a 'Subject Unknown Jr." He taunted.

"Fuck," Nova hissed.

Daredevil hesitated before he crashed the party, his curiosity peaked.

"You listen to me you disgusting maggot, you have to the count of three to let my daughter and myself go and I'll let you escape with your lives, you answer back to your 'employer' that you came up empty and I'll give you twice what your employer promised you and a week head start to vanish before I find and kill all of you." Nova offered.

"So tempting, but I think not." The leader smirked before another guy came closer with a tazzer.

Daredevil took that moment to crash in just as Nova used her double heart to create an electromagnetic sphere around her chest that also cut out all the lights, using her inhuman brute strength to pull the duct tape apart that had been used to keep her hands together. Both Nova and Daredevil reveled in the opportunity to deliver sweet violent justice in the form of kicking ass. Just as they were about done, eight, gigantic dogs, the size of large ponies, with glowing red eyes came running into the space, ripping the guys who had kidnapped Nova and her daughter to pieces with their large, abnormally sharp jaws.

Their cries of pain were almost deafening. Matt looked over at Nova and had to shield his eyes from the brightness emitted from her chest. The thought occurred to him, he was blind, but yet he could 'see' this sphere created in her chest as bright as day. That shouldn't have been possible.

Just as the last of them died, the sphere vanished, leaving a breathless Nova gasping for air as she called out to Halah.

"I'll get her, you stay here and catch your breath," Daredevil offered, using his hearing to locate the terrified little girl.

"Daredevil?" Layla asked fearfully as he came into the small and dark room.

"It's ok, the bad guys are all gone, your mom is safe," He assured her. He reached out to pick her up and to his surprise, she leaped into his arms as he carried her back to her mother.

When he got back he heard the lights flicker back on and the eight dogs became four once more shrinking down to regular enormous dog size as they did so. Matt stopped in his tracks as Layla wriggled out of his hold and went to her mother as she sat on the ground, gasping for breath.

"Are you ok?" Nova asked, tears in her eyes as she took her daughter's face in her hands to look into her daughter's eyes.

"I'm fine mama," Layla assured her mother.

"Did they hurt you?" Nova asked, looking her daughter over frantically before pulling her daughter into her arms and lap, embracing her daughter tightly.

"No, I was just scared," Layla answered, hugging her mother just as tightly. The dogs circled Matt before sniffing at him and his hands. Once they were satisfied that he wasn't a threat they laid down around Nova and Tess creating a wall around them with their bodies.

"Thank you," Nova said, looking up from her daughter to Daredevil. "You should go," Nova urged. "And please," she added. "Please forget everything you heard and saw tonight. For your own good." She pleaded.

Red dots suddenly found themselves on her as her team stormed the building and finding the carnage, Daredevil slipping away into the shadows undetected.

"What happened?" Shadow asked as she looked at the bodies on the floor, letting her gun hang from it's strap around her shoulder as she leaned down to look at the remains.

"I was kidnapped, they knew me as S.U." Nova answered, slipping back into her authoritative voice.

"Fuck," Shadow growled. "What do you want us to do?"

"If you call the police, they'll have issues with 'the girls' killing them," Bishop pointed out as he helped Nova breathe easier with the help of his little oxygen tank and mask.

Nova nodded in agreement as she looked around at the dead bodies on the ground again.

"Gather everything you can on them, fingerprints, blood, full workup, then call the Cleaners." Nova ordered as she stood up and picked her daughter up into her arms. "Secure the perimeter, I want a full detail at my apartment and we'll talk about the rest when we get in the office tomorrow."

"Si Patron," Shadow nodded before directing people to do as her friend had ordered then left with Nova and put Bishop in charge as she and a few of the others helped Nova, Layla and their dogs back to their apartment.

The next morning, everyone from all shifts gathered for an impromptu company meeting. Everyone could feel the rage practically roll off Nova as she came in and took her seat at the head of the table.

"Alright, let's recap last night shall we?" Nova invited as she put her elbows on the table and threaded her fingers together, cracking her knuckles. "Last night, six guys, in heavy combat gear, storm my home. They capture my daughter and myself, carry us off but not before they shoot all of the dogs in the head. They then take us to what I can only assume was either a staging area or a holding area. Where I was 'saved' by fucking Daredevil of all the vigilantes. Way to keep me off the radar people." She angrily accused before taking a deep breath to calm herself down.

"Now because my dogs had to use Lazarus, they killed the assholes and because of that, I couldn't call the police. We had to call the Cleaners." Nova informed them, crossing her arms. Everyone had a grimace on their face and the tension was palpable to say the least.

"Before they were ripped into bite size pieces, they said they had captured me for an 'employer'. The leader had an Eastern European accent and they were going to tazer me into submission. The 'zinger' is they knew me as 'Subject Unknown' and referred to Halah as 'Subject Unknown Jr.'." Nova added.

Everyone's eyes went wide with fear as many of their jaws fell.

"Yeah, I would call that a fuck up. Halah couldn't even go to school today, she's spending her day in the safe room with 'the girls'. Do you have any idea the psychologists I had to get in touch with for her?" Nova replied to their reactions.

"Now, here is the good news, we ran face recognition and fingerprinting so we found out who they were..." Shadow interjected as she dimmed the lights and put the projector screen down as she started her 'slide-show' and explaining who each person was and all pertinent information they had up to that point.

After the meeting, everyone got to work on finding out more on the guys who had ambushed their boss and all other important information they could find. The in-house chef even delivered everyone's lunches to their desks as no one dared to walk away from their new number one priority.

Matt gave it a few days before going to the police to ask Sargent Brett Mahoney to see what had happened to Nova and her daughter and if they needed a lawyer for their dogs at least.

"We haven't had anything like that reported. I've never heard of a 'Lady Sephira', what is she? Some lady of the night or something?" Brett inquired.

"No, she has a bit of British accent, she's mentioned London a few times, she must be part of that hierarchy or something," Matt guessed.

"Oh so one of those classy dames," Brett concluded.

"She's a CEO of her own company that set up shop a few floors above my firm." Matt defended.

"CEO of what?" Brett asked.

"It's a security assessment firm." Matt spurted.

"By the looks of it, you should be a client, get you some body guards or something." Brett cracked.

"So she didn't even report getting assaulted or kidnapped?" Matt inquired, moving the conversation back on subject.

"Nope, believe me, if I had heard of anyone mentioning a Lady whoever, I would have noticed. You must have overhead inflated gossip, girls talk and 'exaggerate' the truth all the time. What probably happened is her dog bit somebody who then chewed her out for it. Chances are if she's a CEO she probably paid off the poor guy to not report it and press charges, besides, we have real crime to deal with." Brett brushed off.

"Yeah, just looking out for my neighbor I guess." Matt nodded.

"You're a good guy Murdock, shame to hear you and Foggy split."

"Me too," Matt agreed before turning and leaving.

Matt walked several blocks before he came across the somewhat abandoned and mostly closed off parking garage, he walked all the way to the bottom where they had been keeping Nova and Halah. He smelled cleaner, bleach, and oil. He knelt down and touched the floor where he knew the dead bodies had been. It had been cleaned, scrubbed and then dirtied. Made to look like nothing had happened there. Whatever his new 'neighbor' was, she didn't want to leave a trace.

Matt paused to think this over. If she had called the police, there would have been a report, an investigation, they would have kept the dogs and taken blood samples. Whatever was in those dogs, it made them split apart and come back together, to grow in size then shrink back down again. Nova would have had to answer why she had them, she clearly was knowledgeable about their condition then an investigation would have been done into her. That was probably what she didn't want.

Her business hadn't even done any marketing or advertizing. They weren't even on the stock market.

The business itself seemed legitimate enough, they had real clients, gave real services, had real employees. It was too sophisticated to be a shell corporation. Matt walked back to the office, wondering if he should leave it alone. But since when was he good at that?

When Matt got back he was surprised to find Foggy already there.

"Been here long?" Matt asked.

"No, just had a meeting with your neighbor upstairs. I don't know if you've been up there yet, but god damn are there a bunch of ridiculously good looking people working there, mostly women. Very hospitable, they had a leg of Iberco ham on a table, just carving away. I think I gained ten pounds they wouldn't stop feeding me the most amazing and delicious food." Foggy appraised.

"Oh?" Matt inquired, his eyebrows raising in surprise.

"She's looking into political and legal asylum, both domestic and international," Foggy answered. "First for me,"

Matt knit his eyebrows together in concentration. "That's not...unheard of,"

"Do you think I should do it?" Foggy questioned.

"You're free to do what you want." Matt answered.

"If she had approached you, and asked you to do this, would you?" Foggy rephrased.

Matt exhaled out of his nose. "No." Matt finally answered.

"Why?" Foggy asked.

"Because she's hiding a hell of a lot. It would make sense for her to seek all kinds of asylum." Matt explained in a hushed tone.

"Like what?" Foggy pushed, his eyes becoming a bit wider as his heart beat sped up.

"Walk me home," Matt insisted.

"Sure," Foggy agreed, letting Matt take his arm as he escorted his friend back.

Once they were a few blocks away Matt explained what happened and Foggy was astounded.

"Fuck," Foggy cursed under his breath. "Well the bad news is the firm is making this a top priority, they're big spenders and all but doubled our usual fees. The good news is, Lady Sephira owns that building outright, when this goes through, if you get caught in your underwear, you go there, you're under that blanket protection. No one, not even the Supreme Court or the Queen of England could come after you." Foggy laid out.

Matt nodded in understanding. "Want to come up for a beer?" Matt offered.

"I can't, I have a date," Foggy explained. "Maybe another time,"

"Sure," Matt nodded before Foggy hailed a taxi and left.

On a rooftop not too far away, Nova met with Frank.

"Frank," Nova greeted, extending a hot mug of coffee to him.

"You and popping out of nowhere, at least you warned me this time." Frank smirked, taking the coffee from her.

"Well, I heard you stayed around, thought I would say 'hi'." Nova shrugged before taking a seat on some stacked up crates.

"So what are you doing around here? What happened to London?" Frank asked.

"London is still ok, it's a satellite for me at the moment, trying out a new city." Nova explained as she gestured to the city around them.

Frank nodded at this before drinking more coffee. "Where's this from?" Frank asked, nodding to the cup.

"Jamaica, blue mountain," Nova answered. "So I have to ask you, I heard, you um, got involved with some unsavory people,"

"What?" Frank asked, his tone clear that he was choosing to ignore her question.

Nova gave him an unamused look.

"I ain't doing anyone's god damn errands or dirty work. I got justice for what happened back then. I'm free and clear."

"Frank, my daughter is here with me, we got kidnapped, did you know anything about that?" Nova questioned.

"Layla is here?! Fuck, no, I didn't. If I had, I would have taken them out." Frank argued adamantly.

Nova blew out a breath of relief. "Thank god, ok, here's the deal. The guys who tried to kidnap us, are dead, I had that scrubbed and cleaned, thoroughly."

"You are thorough." Frank agreed.

"If I give you my address, will you just, keep an eye on us from time to time, come over for dinner or whatever. Layla would love to see you." Nova invited.

"Of course." Frank agreed.

"Awesome. Here's the address. Also, in case something like that happens again, here's a phone. You'll get an alert. This phone is un-tracable, even by me." Nova offered, holding the phone out to him. "You can even get YouTube." She added with a smirk.

Frank took it and looked it over and nodded.

"Thanks Frank, I'll see you around." Nova smiled before giving him a big hug. She let go after a few moments before stepping back and vanishing into thin air again.

Once Nova was back in her office, she went out and talked with her associates who had just pinpointed the 'employer' and their exact location.

"Alpha team, suit up," Nova ordered.

"Layla get's out of school in an hour," Shadow reminded her.

"Let Bishop pick her up again," Nova instructed.

"Please, let someone else go, if I get hit on by another desperate soccer mom I'll hurl." Bishop complained.

"Fine, Gidjet, can you pick her up please?" Nova asked.

"I would love too," Gidjet agreed happily. "But first I need to outfit everyone."

"Please," Nova invited as she gestured for Gidjet to lead the way.

Within a half hour everyone had geared up and had gone into the launch room, each person within the six person team besides Nova took a special tether that attached to Nova's gear.

Nova counted down from three, each person closing their eyes and holding their breath before they all vanished into thin air.

Once they appeared into a small room of an abandoned building. They all let go of the tethers that reeled themselves back into place.

"Everyone make it?" Nova asked.

"Si," Shadow confirmed.

"Yup," Bishop nodded.

"Great, let's go hunting," Nova grinned as she put her gun off safety.

* * *

 _Author's notes-_

 _Again, this is unbetaed._

 _Some new characters_

 _Gig- Carlos Valdes_


	3. New Neighbors

Subject Unknown

Chapter Three

Everyone's weapons went off safety as they went into formation just as they had been trained to. They walked out of the room, down the stairs and over to the next building through an ally, barely noticed by anyone. They storm it and find their target, take him and teleport back to their secret hideout in the outback of Australia.

Raul fell to his knees, as he clutched his chest. "I'm having a heart attack!" He screamed as the squad moved away from him except for Angel who put her stethoscope to her ears.

"No you're not, it feels that way though." She pacified as she checked him over.

"Do you know why you're here?" Nova inquired, once she had recovered from the port. She took her face mask off so he could look at her face.

"I should have ordered them to kill you on site!" He spat.

"Yeah, you should have," Nova smirked. "So why did you order my capture?"

"Armies with the ability to be everywhere all the time, world domination?" Shadow offered.

"Isn't that always the case?" Raul mocked.

"Tell me something I don't know and I'll let Angel kill you nicely, if you fight, she won't be so nice." Nova brokered.

"They're going to catch you, if I fall, more will take my place. We'll cage you, collar you, experiment on you, whatever it takes." Raul predicted.

"Why? Why treat me like an animal when..." Nova started.

"Because you're worse than an animal." Raul cut her off. "You belong to AIM you _**monster**_."

Nova cut her eyes at him, her lips in a firm line, doing her best to keep calm and not prove the bastard right by ripping him limb from limb.

"Labor then Venom, whatever you choose." Nova suggested to Angel.

Angel smiled evilly at Nova's choices before reaching into her back pack and pulling out two syringes before stabbing them both into the guy's neck and injecting him with Gidjet's concoctions that simulated extreme and prolonged second and third stage labor before the synthesized jellyfish venom that mimicked Irukandi and Sea Wasp jellyfish that had flesh eating characteristics. Raul would go through the worst kind of torment before he would die within the next 24 hours, if he lasted that long. Thankfully, the room was completely self sustaining, it would thoroughly scrub, disinfect and clean itself and dispose of his remains without a trace by vaporization, then dissolution.

"Fuck you all!" Raul screamed at their retreating figures.

"Enjoy your horrible death." Angel replied sweetly before they all took their tethers and teleported back to the room they found him in.

"Get everything," Nova ordered as they all gathered everything they could and put it into a large special box.

"Is that all?" Nova asked as their search came to an end.

"Yeah, we stripped everything." Shadow confirmed.

"Send it," Nova nodded before Bishop took a small beeping device and attached it to the box before pressing the center button which caused the box to teleport itself back to Gidjet's lab.

"Let's get out of here," Triple suggested, taking up her tether.

Within another moment they were back in the office in New York.

"We missed lunch," Chameleon frowned.

"I'll make it up to all of you later, I promise." Nova assured them as she went to the wall and took a seat on a long bench. Taking the better part of an hour to fully recover.

Angel took a seat next to her and casually took out her phone, scrolling through her feed as she kept a casual and low-key eye on her friend to make sure she recovered ok.

"Feel better?" Angel asked softly.

"Yes, because he's dead and no, because AIM knew exactly where to find me and how to take me. I like that apartment damn it." Nova answered from her oxygen mask.

"Well, you do like nice things, your apartment is dripping with 'look at me'- ness." Angel pointed out.

"I didn't make it this far to slum it out." Nova deadpanned.

"I know, but maybe you need to keep a low profile, at least for a little bit until things blow over." Angel suggested. "Have you heard about a neighborhood called Hell's Kitchen?"

"Daredevil's back yard?" Nova asked incredulously.

"Yeah, he's saved you once, he seems to favor kids anyway, it would be nice to have another set of eyes. Plus you told me Frank is supposedly keeping an eye on you too." Angel noted.

Nova thought this over.

"I would like to at least renovate." Nova conceded.

"Of course, I'll start looking." Angel offered as Nova seemed to fully recover.

Angel saw Nova off at Gidjet's lab as she and her team poured over everything from Raul's space.

"Anything?" Nova asked as she gave Gidjet a side hug.

"Happy to have you back and to hear the bastard is dead." Gidjet grinned. Nova shared her smile before leaning over the table to look things over.

"We're still decrypting everything, I'll let you know when and if we find anything." Gidjet offered. "You should be able to breathe now, take Layla on a vacation, get away." Gidjet suggested.

"Where?"

"Ask her, go where she wants to go, let her be in control of this one." Gidjet shrugged.

"Not a bad idea." Nova nodded before she drummed on the table a little and left.

Angel and Shadow waited until Nova left Gidjet's lab before they entered.

"What did you find?" Shadow asked.

"First tell me how the Venom worked." Gidjet proposed.

"Fine," Shadow relented, pulling her tablet up and unlocking it, showing a live video feed of Raul in full blown labor mode.

"When will the Venom kick in?" Shadow asked.

"In ten to twelve hours." Angel and Gidjet answered in unison.

"Another sleepless night for me then." Shadow sighed.

"Let us do it, you've had a few too many of those lately." Angel offered as she gestured to Gidjet and herself.

"You sure?" Shadow inquired.

"Oh yeah, we want to see how it all plays out." Gidjet affirmed.

"Alright," Shadow relented as she sent the link to the video feed to both of them. "Don't forget to make _meticulous_ notes." Shadow stressed.

"Of course, like you have to ask." Gidjet nodded.

"I need a nap." Shadow yawned.

"I'm sure Bishop would love to help you with that." Angel teased.

"Punta quiete," Shadow sarcastically quipped before the two made ugly faces at each other before the three of them broke into laughter.

"I hate you all," Shadow rolled her eyes as she left.

"How the hell do you get away with that?" Gidjet asked.

"Eh, I just have a way of bringing everyone's inner child out I guess." Angel winked. "We doing this thing here or what?" Angel asked as she brought up the feed on her own tablet.

"Yeah, get me some crisps, we'll use the Red Room." Gidjet offered.

"And cast it to the big screen." Angel added before grabbing a notepad to write some notes.

"I want proper bangers and mash." Gidjet added.

"Yeah, yeah," Angel smiled, writing that down too. "It's a date, I'll see you later," Angel said as she took her list with her and left.

Over the next two weeks, Chatter and Angel look at possible apartments for Nova and Layla. They narrowed it down to three before bringing Nova and Tess to look it over.

Upon leaving the third they meet a familiar face.

"Mr. Murdock?" Chatter asks as she turned to go down the stairs.

"Miss Mindy," Matt smiled as he climbed the last set of stairs to his apartment.

"Oh please, call me Chatter, you're among friends, I have Nova, Layla and a friend I don't think you've met before, this is Angel." Chatter introduced as he got to the top.

"Lovely to meet you," Angel said as she shook his hand.

"So..." Matt began, not quite sure of how to word his question.

"Apartment hunting." Chatter answered like she knew what he was wanting to ask.

"Do you know about the apartment across the way?" Angel inquired.

"I know she was a nice older woman, I think her children put her in a nursing home." Matt answered.

"That would explain the smell." Nova chuckled. "Are you allergic to animals? It also smelled like she had at least two cats."

"No," Matt confirmed.

"Ok, well, we should be going, nice to see you again," Nova initiated as she reached out to shake his hand again.

"Bye," Layla said softly, shaking his hand much to the surprise of everyone.

The next day construction workers were in that apartment, doing general repairs as well as installing new appliances, bathrooms and such.

The week after that, a moving company came and unloaded hundreds of boxes into the apartment before Nova along with half the staff from Voxhe who all seemed to be more on the side of Nova's friends than actual employees by the sounds of their laughter and conversation.

When they got done Bishop left and brought back the four large dogs that had killed the men who had tried to kidnap Nova only a month prior.

All four of them, dragged Bishop across the hall before stopping at Matt's door, all of them wagging their tails tentatively, not growling or making any noise, just standing there, sniffing through the door.

"Come on girls, time to go to your new home." Bishop softly commanded. The dogs reluctantly obeyed but did turn around twice before going into the new apartment.

Once inside, Bishop took their leashes off and let them roam the new space before gesturing for Nova to come over.

"What's wrong?" Nova asked, worry already laced in her tone.

"The girls just did something odd," Bishop placated.

"What exactly did they do?" Nova demanded, keeping her tone quiet but urgent all the same.

"They went to your neighbor's door, without an order, stood at his door, wagged their tails slowly but didn't make a sound other than trying to sniff through the door." Bishop explained, keeping his voice equally quiet and purposefully calm.

"That...is odd. They're trained to sit if they smell drugs," Nova began.

"Which they did several times on the way up," Bishop explained.

"They're trained to point to weapons," Nova continued.

"Which they did also, several times, on the way up," Bishop added.

"They're trained to sit and whine for cancer." Nova furthered.

"They didn't do that." Bishop replied.

"But to stay standing and wag their tails...slowly…?" Nova thought out loud.

"I don't know, but my gut says to break in and search that guy's apartment when he's not there or have the girls meet him in person. Something is up."

"Ok." Nova agreed.

The next morning, as Matt was leaving, Nova hurriedly came out of her apartment, with all four dogs in tow.

"Ok, girls, time to go to work," Nova said sweetly to her dogs.

"You have dogs?" Matt asked.

"Yes, four of them, I guess now is as good a time to meet them as any," Nova replied, her heart rate was raised, she was nervous but it didn't creep into her voice. The dogs once again pulled her toward him, sniffing at him before wagging their tails and licking at his hands.

"They...like you..." Nova noted in confusion.

"Was that supposed to be surprising?" Matt asked.

"No, my dogs have been very specifically trained and have a true sixth sense about people." Nova quickly explained. "Um, I should introduce you to them individually," Nova said before pulling back on the dogs leashes before giving them the command to sit.

Once they did, she reached out to take Matt's hand. "Do you mind?" She inquired.

"No, not at all." Matt smiled.

"The first is Porsche, she is an English and Bull/ Neapolitan mastiff mix, she's a couch potato. Next is Lamborghini, Lammy for short she's a Newfoundland and Caucasian Shepherd mix, the sweetest of the dogs and the biggest drooler. Next is Bugatti, Boo for short, she's a Tibetan Mastiff, and lastly Veyron, Vey for short, she's a Shiloh Shepherd and she's extremely protective, well they all are but she's the boss, she keeps the others in line.

"How do you afford to feed them?" Matt chuckled.

"Oh it's a challenge," Nova chuckled, her tone teasing yet light.

"Tess has already left for school and with the office being so close I thought I would walk to work, care to walk with me?" Nova offered.

"Sure," Matt agreed.

They walked to work, having a rather nice conversation as they did so.

Once they got to the office the girls indicated that something was a miss with Matt's office.

"My dogs are telling me something is wrong in your office, do you mind if they search?" Nova inquired.

"Uh, yeah," Matt consented.

Matt opened the doors and Nova gave the dogs the command to search.

"Woah," Nova whispered.

"What?" Matt inquired.

"You have rats and mold and...listening devices."

"What?!" Matt repeated.

"Hang on," Nova placated as she dug her phone out of her pocket and pressed a speed dial. "Hey Gidjet, it's me, I'm downstairs in Mr. Murdock's office and there's listening devices in his office…yeah...send Chatter."

"Are you working any high profile cases right now?" Nova questioned.

"Um, no, none that come to mind." Matt stuttered as his mind raced before it seemed to dawn on him.

"Who just popped into your head?" Nova asked as she read his face before her own light bulb went off in her head. "Do you think it was Mr. Fisk?"

"...possibly." Matt whispered before Chatter came into the room with her duffel bag of equipment. "Hello everybody," Chatter greeted, petting all the dogs. "Who found the bug? Did you find the bug?" Chatter excitedly questioned the dogs. "Show me, show me girls,"

This time each dog found several and received high praise and their toys.

"Alrighty, let's see what we got here." Chatter said as she gloved up and used her tools to weed out the listening devices.

"Wow, someone has a lot of regard for you." Chatter chuckled as she collected them all and traced the feed from her laptop.

"Uh, Nova, look at this." Chatter suggested. Nova walked and looked at the screen, her eyebrows rose in surprise to see that two sources came up in Chatters search, the first was to an address that was still being decrypted, the second was to Voxhe Temptet. Nova blew out an irritated breath before getting her phone out and texting Bishop, guessing he had something to do with this.

"What's going on?" Matt asked.

"The video feed is not only encrypted but it's being bounced from place to place, we're still trying to trace it." Chatter answered before her computer chimed.

"Ah, well the address is here in New York, in Manhattan, really upscale place, we'd be happy to look into this for you." Chatter offered.

"We will be looking into this," Nova confirmed. "Come on girls, let's go upstairs, we have work to do." Nova invited as she re-leashed all the dogs.

"Matt, if you're uncomfortable being in this space, feel free to come up, we have a spare desk you can work at or just hang out with us, take the day off." Nova invited.

"Yeah, you should totally come up, it's Grandma day!" Chatter cheered, packing up her stuff and taking Matt's arm to practically drag him up to their office.

"Who's Grandma?" Matt asked.

"Oh we have this deal where Grandmas can make their family meals the way their Grandma's made stuff and we pay them for it, for example there's this one Syrian woman who spends like 8-10 hours making these amazing meals with tons of dishes and we give her like a thousand dollars for her time and ingredients and she doesn't even have to give us the recipes, it's part of our reach out to heritage initiative and let me tell you the food is off the charts." Chatter gushed.

Nova went straight to Bishop's office once she came in and let the dogs loose in the office.

"You bugged his office?" Nova accused.

"How did you know?" Bishop asked.

"Because the girls indicated it. You got lucky, the guy had more than one person who bugged him."

"Yeah I noticed that when I put them there last night. Means something is up." Bishop defended.

"Except that other person is Wilson Fisk, which means Mr. Murdock is on his revenge list and not just Mr. Murdock, his whole law firm, which means we are going to do our homework and keep an eye on these guys because Matt is not only the guy who is renting an office below us but he's also my neighbor and the girls checked him out this morning and gave him the thumbs up." Nova laid out.

"Ok, fine," Bishop conceded.

"Now, because he got spooked, he's here, play nice please." Nova encouraged. "But thank you for looking out for me, I see why you did it. Thank you." Nova repeated, in a much calmer tone before there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," Bishop invited.

"It's me," Chatter chirped as she popped her head in. "Oh good, you're both in here," she said as she came into the office and shut the door behind her.

"So I was looking into 'Nelson and Murdock' and Franklin Nelson is 'Foggy' the guy who is doing our asylum, which was a no-brainer. Come to find out, their secretary, the third musketeer, is Karen Page, currently a reporter for the New York Bulletin, and this girl is kick ass." Chatter started.

"So looking into her, she has a bit of a checkered past, however she worked for Union Allied, which we know how that whole fiasco went down, anyway, that was when she became the victim of a frame job, she was saved, like a damsel in distress in by knights in shining armor by, da-da-da-daaa! Nelson and Murdock. She get's cleared, she starts working for them and they become the three musketeers until, Frank Castle enters the picture, they take on his case, Matt get's his head out of the game and for reasons I'm still looking into, Foggy and Karen walk away from 'Nelson and Murdock'. But that's just the beginning, this chick, was the one who worked with Frank the most, she got close, it takes a special kind of woman to hang with Frank. But it doesn't stop there, she worked with the late Ben Urich who was one of the best investigative journalists ever. When Karen quit Nelson and Murdock, she took over not just his job but took his office too. According to Ben's widow, he looked at her like a daughter. She doesn't back down, she's not afraid. She's bad ass."

"Alright, I want more recon, I want eyes and ears on both Foggy and Karen, as a favor to Frank, put a sleeper on Karen, as a favor to Matt, put a sleeper on Foggy, he has an assistant, get her either a promotion from the firm or hired out to a different one so we can fill that space. For Karen, get creative. I want this done by the end of the week and get the rest of the team up to date." Nova urged.

"You got it boss lady." Chatter smiled before turning and going back out.

"Going all mama bear on this one," Bishop noted.

"Yes I am." Nova confirmed as she squared her shoulders, held her head up high and walked out of his office with the swagger she always did when she had a new project she was passionate about.

* * *

 _Author's notes- Unbetaed as usual._

 _New Characters_

 _Angel- Danielle Nicolet_

 _Chameleon- Eva Marceille_

 _Raul- Peter Sarsgaard (ok one more white guy)_


	4. Foggy in need of a secretary

Subject Unknown

Chapter 4

"So let me get this right, Samantha got an offer from a different firm, when she didn't even put out her resume? She was head hunted?" Foggy repeated in confusion.

"Yes and since Samantha is such an asset, we have made a counter offer and she has been promoted. I realize this will leave a vacancy for you, so therefore, I have already lined up several outstanding candidates to replace Samantha." Jeri Hogarth assured him. "Of course you are always welcome to do some head hunting of your own. You have complete control over who can be your secretary."

"Thank you." Foggy nodded with a warm smile.

Within the hour Foggy had a waiting room full of candidates. All of them were, in his opinion, astonishing good looking.

The first candidate, Ms. Sasha Pierce, was French, her accent putting a beautiful flourish to her words as she spoke them. Shorter dark brown curly hair, light green eyes, very warm and easy going personality. She offered to give him French lessons if he hired her. Perhaps a little too eager.

The second, Ms. Mila Almonduvich, was Ukrainian by nationality, however her parents had moved her to the states as a young child as they pursued and achieved the so called "American Dream". Her eyes were such a deep, rich brown, Foggy could practically fall into them. She did have a sense of humor though that was profoundly hilarious, even though it bordered on the inappropriate.

The third, Ms. Mako Morimoto, was Japanese American, extremely sophisticated and had a nobility about her, tempered with almost a sense of shyness that Foggy found intriguing.

The fourth, Ms. Natalie Thompson, reminded Foggy very much like Reyes, very driven, very focused, very methodical. It was, if Foggy was completely honest, intimidating.

The last, Ms. Ambre DuPont, also French, was perhaps the most reserved out of the lot. She answered his questions concisely and directly, not shying away from eye contact. She was however not forthcoming about her personal details but something about her ignited a curiosity within Foggy. Her mannerisms were shy, quiet and delicate. However, when Foggy made the mistake of calling her Amber she had no qualms about correcting him and going through the trouble of repeating her name with him until he had the pronunciation perfect. The smile of satisfaction when he did get her name right though, it made Foggy's heart melt a little.

On Ms. DuPont's way out, Ms. Pierce had waited for her.

"How did it go?" Sasha asked Ambre in French.

"So-so, I don't even want this assignment, only as a favor to Nova am I here, otherwise Marseille is calling me home, do you miss Brittany?" Ambre inquired.

"Of course, there is a restaurant here that I think we would like, Nova will be paying of course." Sasha grinned.

"It is owed," Ambre grinned back.

"Shall we invite the others that interviewed today, maybe we can discuss what we found on our mark and see who will most likely get called back." Sasha invited.

Ambre nodded in agreement before they finally caught a taxi.

Once at the restaurant, the others had beaten them there and had already ordered drinks.

"So, what do we think about Mr. Nelson?" Sasha instigated.

"He is not used to his new role yet, he needs work commanding respect in his presence." Ambre criticized.

"He is looking for a friend as well as a secretary. There has been loss in his life, he may be looking to fill that." Mako offered.

"I agree with the friend thing, he laughed at all my jokes, he's eager to make a friend." Mila noted.

"I also agree, I think I intimidated him, I probably played the roll of an 'aspiring secretary' a little too well," Natalie said as she took a sip of her wine.

"He's Irish, and a bit round, perhaps food would be a good way to sway him, excellent way to dispose of him if need be," Sasha grinned. All of them grinned at that.

The next day it came as a shock when Ambre was called back for a second interview. Sasha was also called which was no surprise for her. And to the further surprise of everyone, Ambre got the job.

Back at Voxhe, Ambre was on the verge of losing her temper. She did not want this job, to go to an office everyday, having all the other women judge you and thinking you're some dumb secretary as the men in the office would look at her as some hot piece of ass, it all disgusted her. She would be paid in US dollars rather than diamonds as was her preferred method of payment. Why her? Sasha was much more keen on this kind of thing. Being a sleeper was so mundane. However Sasha had some great words of advice. "Ambre, remember, this is only temporary, get an apartment, have an excuse to wear all your couture clothes and shoes, be the envy of every woman there. In your resume it said you were a former model, you should strut. Every woman on Earth is intimidated by us. Give them more reasons not to ever underestimate you. I'll stay with you if you would like. I'll learn Marseille cooking so you don't feel so homesick." Sasha offered.

"Would that work? You don't mind sacrificing?" Ambre asked, astonished at Sasha's offer.

"Of course, Nova is bank rolling all of this. I'll get paid to stay at an apartment, cook my favorite dishes which I love to do any way. We could get a dog or even a cat." Sasha smiled.

"I like cats."

"And I like both so we can get both. The important thing to remember is this is important to Nova so we need to keep it important to us, besides, I always wanted a sister."

"Me too." Ambre nodded, her wrath abating.

Nova didn't hesitate to agree to the plan. And soon every day, Nova and Sasha would go on shopping trips together to get Sasha and Ambre the ingredients and things they needed from all over France to make sure Ambre didn't feel too homesick. Nova even offered for Ambre's parents to visit her.

"So, Miss. Ambre, do you have plans for lunch?" Foggy asked one morning.

"I do, my parents are coming from France this evening and I have to make sure everything is ready for them." Ambre informed him as she worked on typing something up he had given her earlier.

"Oh do you need to get off early? You can have the whole afternoon off if you want." Foggy offered.

Ambre stopped typing and blinked a few times as it registered with her.

"Really? You don't mind?" Ambre asked, turning to look at him directly.

"Sure, how long are they in town for?"

"Just a few days," Ambre answered.

"So take a few days off, be with your parents, show them the sights," Foggy encouraged. "It's not like we have any huge cases right now, I'll be fine, take a few days off to be with your family. I'll talk to HR to see if I can get you a little bonus or something so you can really show them a good time."

"Oh that is not necessary, they are not that poor," Ambre blushed.

"Oh it's absolutely necessary. Here, go get these file cases and I'll go ahead and call HR." Foggy insisted.

"Je vous remercie Monsieur Franklin." Ambre said in thanks, tears pricking her eyes. She had never met a more accommodating person other than Nova. Everyone else had been so exacting.

"Would you...would you like to meet them? Perhaps tonight at dinner? We are going to Eleven Madison Park, we should be there at six tonight."

"I would be honored. Can I pick you up? Will your parents be meeting you there at the restaurant?"

"No, they will be coming to my apartment first to rest and get refreshed." Ambre explained. "If you do not wish to pick me and my parents up, I will understand." Ambre murmured.

"What? No, I'll have a limo ready, we can all go together." Foggy smiled.

"I would like that." Ambre smiled, one of the few times she ever did.

Ambre took the rest of the day off and went to the spa and also went to a salon to get her hair and makeup done after she had also gotten her manicure and pedicure. Sasha had joined her for all of it and insisted on coming along so that Ambre didn't feel like she was on a double date with her parents to which Ambre was incredibly thankful for.

Sasha and Ambre even tried on different outfits before Ambre's parents arrived. At 5:30 sharp Foggy had a luxurious limo waiting for all of them. Foggy's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he saw Sasha and Ambre walking out to meet him.  
"Hello Mr. Nelson, I hope you don't mind I join you tonight, I'm Ambre's room mate." Sasha smiled brightly as she leaned toward Ambre."

"The more the merrier!" Foggy exclaimed as he smiled brightly.

"Monsieur Franklin, allow me to introduce you to my parents, this is my mother, Beatrice DuPont," Ambre began as her mother held out her hand to Foggy. Foggy shook it before he realized he was supposed to kiss her hand and did so a bit unceremoniously.

"And this is my Father, Basile DuPont, he is one of the representatives for France to the European Union." Ambre introduced proudly.

"You don't have to kiss my hand," Basile joked.

"Oh thank god." Foggy laughed before turning to Beatrice. "Not that it wasn't a pleasure to kiss your hand mademoiselle." Foggy clarified.

All he got in response was a polite smile. Now he knew where Ambre got most of her character.

When they got out of the car Foggy and Basile helped the ladies out and Sasha instantly took Foggy's arm so he could escort her into the restaurant, Foggy offered his other arm to Ambre. Ambre blinked blankly for a moment before she also took his arm. Foggy proudly walked two of the most beautiful women in New York into the restaurant. Once inside, the ladies took off their coats, wearing stunning dresses that showed off their best assets. Foggy had to swallow a few times and remind himself to keep looking into their eyes. All eyes were on them as they walked to the table, Foggy eagerly pulling out chairs for Sasha and Ambre as Basile pulled the chair out for his wife. Foggy chose to sit in-between Sasha and Ambre seeing as Ambre sat next to her mother and Basile sitting on the other side of his wife so that he was just about across from Foggy.

As the dinner progressed, Foggy fell into a really easy and exciting conversation with Basile and Sasha since they were quite gregarious. Ambre and her mother said very little except to each other and only in French.

At the end of the meal when it came time to pay, Foggy and Basile nearly had an argument on which of the two of them were going to be paying for the group. Foggy won and paid generously for the meal.

"Quite magnanimous of you," Beatrice said graciously as she stood, Basile taking the trouble to help get her coat on. Foggy did his best to do the same to Sasha and Ambre.

"Well that was an interesting evening." Basile had said once they made it into the apartment.

"He wears his heart on his sleeves, he's an easy read." Beatrice criticized.

"He is sweet and naturally good natured, he didn't have to pay for the whole meal and he didn't have to tip our wait staff so well either." Sasha defended.

"He did give me the next couple of days off with pay and a 'bonus' to splurge on you," Ambre pointed out quietly to her mother.

"Is that so? That shows a strength of character to show such devotion to family, even if it not his own." Basile noted.

"He's my mark, I feel...perhaps...guilty, for taking advantage of him."

"You should not feel guilt, you did not pressure him into anything, if he chooses to be generous, that is on him. You are doing your duty very well." Beatrice assured her daughter before she raised her hands to hold her daughter's face in them. "I am very proud of you for taking on such a humble and noble task, just don't get too emotionally involved my love."

"Oui Maman," Ambre nodded, smiling softly at her mother who tilted her head to kiss her daughter on the forehead.

The four of them had a lovely time in New York before Ambre's parents had to go home.

The next morning at work, Basile had sent dozens of various shades of white and pink roses. Ambre smiled when she read the card. "To my little love" which is what her parents had called her from infancy.

"Who got you flowers?" Foggy asked as he came into the office.

"My parents," Ambre answered as she wrote out a thank you note by hand to mail back to her parents, they always did enjoy getting physical mail from her.

"Are these your favorite flowers?" Foggy asked as he looked them over, smelling them from a respectful distance.

"Sort of. I like sweet and fragrant flowers, Jasmine, Hyacinth..." Ambre said as she continued to write her note, not catching herself from telling him the truth.

"So...perfume would be the same?" Foggy inquired.

That's when Ambre realized she had slipped.

"I rarely wear perfume," Ambre answered hesitantly.

Foggy simply nodded and went into his office. "When you're done, I have a few things for you," Foggy said over his shoulder.

Karen peeked through the peep hole in her door to see Frank on the other side.

"Frank?" Karen said as she hastily opened the door.

"I trailed your lead." Frank informed her as he came into her apartment.

"What did you find out?" Karen asked, getting her notepad for work.

"Oh things you won't believe..."

* * *

 _Author's notes. Again this is unbetaed. I was talking with a reader and they pointed out how important it can be to also have a varied ethnicity as well. So I'm trying to be more conscientious about that._  
 _Some new people, yay._  
 _For the interview-ies._  
 _Sasha - Marion Cotillard_  
 _Natalie - Paula Patton_  
 _Mila- Mila Kunis_  
 _Mako- Rinko Kukuchi_  
 _Ambre- Le'a Seydeux_  
 _For the roles of Ambre's Parents_  
 _Basile -Lambert Wilson_  
 _Beatrice- Monica Bellacci_


	5. Foggy get's smitten

Subject Unknown

Chapter 5

After discussing what Frank found out about Karen's current lead for a story she was working on, the conversation turned more social.

"So where are you staying now?" Karen asked softly.

"I found a place," Frank shrugged before his phone from Nova buzzed.

"Is that a new phone?" Karen inquired.

"Yup." Frank nodded as he read the message.

"Who would be texting you?" Karen dug.

"An old friend." Frank answered, a small twitch coming from the corner of his mouth.

"I thought..." Karen began before thinking the better of it.

"What? That I don't have those anymore?" Frank chided.

"Well..." Karen swallowed, as she cast her eyes down.

"So how's Murdock?" Frank inquired.

"Fine," Karen answered quickly, too quickly.

"He still drinking too much?" Frank asked.

"He's...working on it." Karen answered carefully.

"You two still goin out?" Frank prodded, just as carefully.

"No," Karen confirmed with a shake of her head. "It, um, didn't work out,"

Frank seemed to think that over a moment.

"Call me if you need anything. Here's the number to this phone," Frank offered as he took her notepad and wrote it out.

"I gotta get goin," Frank said as he looked at his watch.

"When will I see you again?" Karen asked, desperate to keep him there, for just a moment more.

"Probably tomorrow," Frank smiled.

"Thank you, for doing this," Karen offered in thanks.

"You're welcome," Frank nodded before leaving. Karen waited a few minutes before trailing him.

That evening Frank came over to Nova's apartment, as per his invitation.

"You moved." Frank said into the intercom before it buzzed to let him in.

"Had to," Nova said as he came up the last wrung of stairs.

"Cause of..." Frank started.

"Yup," Nova finished.

"Uncle Frank!" Layla cheered as he came into the place.

"Hey kid!" Frank grinned as he welcomed the tyke into his arms.

"Pick me up!" Layla insisted.

"Ok, but I think you're getting a little too big," Frank teased as he pretended to struggle to do so. "Look at how big you got!" Frank grinned. "Hey girls," Frank greeted the dogs as they came over to sniff him over.

"I hope you like what's for dinner!" Layla began.

"Oh? What are we having?" Frank asked as he carried her over to the dinner table as Nova went back into the kitchen to pull the lasagna out of the oven before changing the oven settings to toast the garlic bread.

"You learned to cook!" Frank smiled.

"Ha, no, I paid an Italian grandmother for this," Nova laughed.

"Cheater," Frank teased.

"Yes I am, would you like some salad? Now that I did put together." Nova inquired

From across the hallway, Karen looked eagerly at Matt as he listened.

"What are they saying?" Karen whispered.

"They're talking about the food." Matt whispered back.

"So who's your neighbor?" Karen asked.

"Her name is Lady Nova Sephira. She's the CEO of Voxhe Temptet, they took the floors above our office." Matt answered.

"And she's an old friend of Frank's?"

"I guess. Doesn't surprise me." Matt muttered as his head twitched a little. "Now they're talking about guns..."

"In front of a 5 year old?" Karen asked incredulously.

"They're using numbers, not names, Layla's feeding the dogs the shredded carrots from her salad to...Lammy, underneath the table." Matt revealed with a small smile.

"What kind of little girl is Layla?" Karen asked.

"From what I've experienced, very shy and timid." Matt answered.

"Does she like you?" Karen inquired from the fond tone Matt used.

"I suppose." Matt shrugged a little.

"What kind of woman is Nova?" Karen inquired.

"Mysterious," Matt huffed, a small, wry grin on his lips.

"What makes you say that?" Karen prodded.

"She's very tight lipped about herself." Matt explained.

"That doesn't make her mysterious, that just makes her private." Karen argued.

"You'll see, when you meet her," Matt assured her.

"When?" Karen repeated.

"You should come by the office sometime." Matt invited.

"I think I will." Karen grinned.

The next morning, Karen's attention was split from her current story and her new curiosity about Nova.

"You're awfully distracted," Camilla noted.

"Yeah, just more than one thing going on at a time." Karen remarked, breaking her eyes away from her screen to chance a glance at the newest addition to the Bulletin's staff.

"Well if you need any help, it's not like it's fashion week right now, I could always float to you. I can take some pictures for whatever story you're working, just in case it hits the front page." Camilla offered with a grin.

"Thanks for the offer, I think I'm ok," Karen assured Camilla nicely.

"Well if you change your mind," Camilla shrugged as she came into Karen's office to hand Karen her business card.

Karen politely took the card from Camilla. As Camilla left, Karen took a closer look at the card itself. It was a very heavy business card, very elegant with exquisite flourishes and graphics, it was the nicest business card Karen had ever seen. Karen pursed her lips in thought. It did make sense that a fashion blogger and writer would get eye catching business cards, if she was giving them to designers and photographers, it would leave a good impression and be memorable.

Karen brushed it off as she continued with her internet search. She was able to find Voxhe's business homepage. It did have pictures of some of the personnel but not of it's founder. It was, to Karen's surprise, a bit of a global enterprise, they had offices in the Bahamas, Quebec, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Cairo, Morocco, Mozambique, Tanzania, London, Paris, Madrid, Mumbai, Singapore, Beijing, Melbourne and Hong Kong.

"Jesus," Karen muttered under her breath. "Ok, 'Lady Sephira', why on earth are you in Hell's Kitchen of all places?"

The next day, Karen worked up the courage to go to Voxhe Temptet, with Matt in tow.

"Good afternoon Mr. Murdock," Triple greeted with a warm smile, coming out from behind her desk to greet them.

"Miss Triple, this is my friend Karen Page," Matt introduced.

"Triple?" Karen repeated as she shook Triple's hand.

"Oh yes, here at Voxhe Temptet we tend to give each other nick names, I grew up in the heart of Bollywood and my parents are both actors so I grew up with the whole singing, dancing and all that so I became a 'triple threat' in my own right, the name stuck." Triple smiled politely.

"Matt?" Chatter called out as she peeked out from around the corner. "It is you, I thought I heard your voice, who have you brought with you?" Chatter inquired politely as she came forward to them.

"This is Karen Page," Triple answered.

"Oh, hello, welcome to Voxhe Tempted, any friend of Mr. Murdock is a friend of ours, please come with me, we're about to break for lunch." Chatter invited as she took Matt's hand into the crook of her arm and led them to the proper dining hall where a veritable buffet was waiting for them.

"Is that...a tower of seafood?" Karen asked in astonishment.

"Oh yes, it's Mediterranean food today, very heavy on the fish and seafood, if you don't care for it, we can always fix you up something else," Triple offered.

"Oh, no, are you sure I'm not going to be inconveniencing you?" Karen asked,

"Of course not, no trouble at all," Chatter assured her. "Matt, what can I get you?"

Matt and Karen sat down to a feast as Karen tried to covertly gather Intel.

"So why did you guys come to New York?" Karen asked.

"Expansion, we have a lot of US based clientele so it only seemed logical," Chatter answered.

"Where was the company originally founded?"

"Oh in Hong Kong, about 8 years ago, a lot of Japanese businessmen like to have extra security and it just grew by word of mouth from there," Chatter smiled.

"Do you have any famous clients?" Karen inquired.

"They pay a lot of money to make sure we don't disclose that information. It's a breach of trust." Chatter deflected.

"Oh," Karen nodded in understanding.

"As an investigative journalist, you probably run across some dangerous people. We have discounts just for journalists." Chatter invited.

"Oh I don't think I can afford it," Karen said as she shook her head.

"You might be surprised, we also do offer free consultations as well as offering a friends and family rate for self defense courses, as a favor to Matt, I'm sure Nova would be willing to make you an offer you can't refuse, if you don't mind the saying." Chatter insisted as Nova came into the room.

"Nova! Over here!" Chatter called as she gestured for Nova to come to their table.

"This is our CEO, Lady Sephira," Chatter began.

"Please, call me Nova," Nova insisted.

"Nova, this is Matt's friend, Karen Page, she's an investigative journalist for the New York Bulletin." Chatter introduced.

"Lovely to meet you," Nova nodded as she walked around the table to shake Karen's hand.

"I was telling her that we offer friends and family rates for self defense courses and free consultations." Chatter grinned.

"Oh, as an investigative journalist, I'm sure you know how to ruffle a few feathers finding the truth." Nova noted as she sat down next to Karen.

"Yeah, it's worth it though."

"Oh absolutely, we have security for private investigators, as well as investigative journalists all over the world, Europe, South America and Africa are the heaviest users since there is so much threat from government, gangs and mafia alike. I would love to do your free assessment at your earliest convenience." Nova offered cordially.

"Oh that's so kind of you, I'll think about it," Karen nodded.

"Take your time, here's my card and let me get a brochure for you as well." Nova said as she fished a card out from her suit jacket pocket before getting up and leaving the room only to come back a few moments later with a shiny brochure written just for journalists.

"We tailor our services for whatever clientele we may have," Nova informed her as she handed the brochure to Karen.

Shadow came into the cafeteria with Bishop.

"Excuse me, I told my vice presidents and my senior advisers I would eat with them today," Nova said as she took her leave from them to get herself some lunch from the buffet.

"She's really nice," Karen said as she walked Matt back to his office.

"Too nice," Matt added.

"Maybe," Karen allowed.

"So what's getting you all riled up about her?" Karen inquired.

"Her dogs, they're...science fiction, they got shot in the head, came back to life, split apart, killed guys who had kidnapped her and her daughter." Matt whispered.

"That's...impossible," Karen shook her head.

"I saw it, well, sensed it, myself." Matt insisted.

"How old is her daughter again?" Karen asked.

"About five I think." Matt answered.

"Well, I'm looking into her, I'll see what I can find." Karen assured Matt. "Have you heard from Foggy?"

"He got a new secretary, she's French apparently." Matt divulged.

"Oh, is she nice or intimidating as all French girls are." Karen teased.

"Definitely intimidating," Matt laughed.

"Poor Foggy," Karen sighed. "It seems like we all got on with our lives," Karen noted with a hint of sadness.

"I miss us," Matt sighed.

"Miss you and me or miss you, me and Foggy?" Karen asked.

"Both," Matt admitted.

"I think that shipped sailed, a while ago," Karen intimated. "I should get going, have a lot of work to do."

Once back at the office, Karen poured over the brochure and noticed they gave not only self defense courses but gun safety and conceal carry licenses. Not just that, they even offered to take you gun shopping to find the perfect gun for you.

"Not a bad idea," Karen whispered under her breath.

"Bonjour Monsieur Nelson," Ambre greeted sweetly when she saw Foggy coming toward his office the next morning. She stood and took her notepad before opening Foggy's office door for him.

"Oh you got me breakfast," Foggy gushed once he saw the little spread on his office desk.

"Oui, smoked salmon bagel with goat cheese and cream cheese." Ambre nodded.

"When did you make the coffee?" Foggy asked as he looked at the still steaming cup next to it.

"Just before you came in," Ambre answered.

"You're the best," Foggy praised as he sat down.

"Oui," Ambre agreed with a smile before taking a deep breath to list off his activities. "Today at 10am there is a board meeting with the partners of the firm, at 11, you have a meeting with Lady Sephira and her VP's about Voxhe Temptet's political asylum, the paperwork for that is here, I will have Ms. Shirley here to endorse and...oh what's the word, to put her seal on it." Ambre listed off.

"Notary, to notarize." Foggy supplied.

"Oui, that," Ambre smiled, relieved that he could always help her out with translation. Since she started working with him, he was picking up on the French thing. They enjoyed a fleeting moment looking into each others eyes before Ambre forced herself to continue on. "At noon you have a lunch meeting with..." She continued to list off. Foggy for his part was only partially paying attention to what she was saying. Her hair was done up in gorgeous braids that led to a bun. Foggy absently wondered how well her hair would hold the curls and waves if she let it down.

"Foggy?" Ambre asked.

"Yes?" Foggy answered, shaking himself from the daze he had fallen into.

"I said your mother called and asked if you would be coming for Thanksgiving?" Ambre repeated.

"Oh, yes, am I supposed to bring anything?" Foggy asked.

"A side dish, do you cook?" Ambre inquired.

"Badly," Foggy answered.

"My roommate, Sasha, she is a fabulous cook, I'm sure if you asked nicely she would...how you say...save your ass?" Ambre offered with a teasing grin, knowing full well the American expression.

"Really?" Foggy asked after he laughed at his own expense.

"Oui," Ambre nodded.

"That would be awesome, I'll pay her handsomely," Foggy offered. "Is that all or is there anything else?"

"So far, yes, that is all," Ambre confirmed with a nod.

"In that case, I love the shoes you're wearing today," Foggy complimented.

"Thank you, Ralf and Russo, I love this collection." Ambre informed him as she turned to the side and lifted her heel daintily so he could really see them.

"They look like they came right out of a fairy tale," Foggy nodded.

"Precisely," Ambre agreed before turning to leave.

Later that morning Marci stopped by to see Foggy.

"Good morning Ms. Stahl," Ambre greeted cordially.

"Is Foggy-bear busy?" Marci asked.

"Shouldn't be, especially for you," Ambre answered as she typed an instant message onto her computer that went directly to Foggy's computer.

"Marci," Foggy greeted only a moment later as he came out of his office door before ushering her into his office.

Once the door was closed Ambre blew out the breath she had subconsciously been holding. "Chienne," Ambre whispered under her breath. Ambre had received the most criticism from Marci. Upon hearing that Marci and her boss used to be in a relationship and that at the present was in a gray area, Ambre forced herself to make a special effort to be as pleasant to Marci as possible. Ambre didn't want to get in between the two. And for the time being, it seemed to work.

Over the next couple of weeks, Foggy noticed he was the envy of just about every guy in the office. Foggy was proud of himself for not engaging them in any kind of gossip, especially when they baited him. He held himself to a very high moral code and remained a perfect gentleman toward Ambre. Foggy also couldn't help but notice how the other women reacted to her. Some of them were clearly jealous, a few were curious and even fewer were actually genuinely nice.

Then, for apparently no reason, Foggy went out and got several perfume vials that rolled onto the skin for her. Hoping that she would like just one of them. To his great relief she liked three.

And again, for no apparent reason, he got her an edible arrangement.

"You give food as flowers in America?" Ambre asked, barely containing a giggle as she looked them over.

"Yes we do." Foggy beamed. "You slave over my breakfast every day, I just wanted to make sure you knew you were appreciated, via food." Foggy explained.

Ambre was touched by Foggy's genuine concern and generosity. After going over Foggy's schedule, Ambre did something she never thought she would do. She hugged him.

After work, Ambre went shopping for clothes for Foggy, in the case of an extraction, he would need a few changes of clothes and shoes and such not only for his office but for the safe house as well. Sasha assisted her in the endeavor and was secretly pleased Ambre was being so thorough and thoughtful in the process. That night, again, with the help of Sasha and others from Voxhe, Ambre changed out the combat boots and clothes in Foggy's go bag, as well as added more guns, ammo and protective gear in a secret compartment in Foggy's bathroom that adjoined his office.

"Did he get you perfume?" Sasha whispered as she changed out the batteries on Ambre's extraction devices.

"...yes," Ambre hesitantly agreed.

"Can I smell them?" Sasha inquired curiously.

"Sure," Ambre nodded, doing her best to hide her blush by turning around and double checking extra magazines of ammo in her own go bag.

"These smell amazing," Sasha gushed.

"You guys have about 10 minutes before security sweeps the area." Chatter informed them from their individual ear comms.

"I only need five," Ambre returned as she quickly double checked the rest of her go bag.

Ambre and the others were out of the area well before security came by.

Meanwhile Frank found himself at Karen's door again. Not because he had anything in particular for her, just, he wanted to make sure she was safe.

"What's wrong?" Karen asked as she came to the door before letting him in.

"Nothin," Frank asked as he took a good look around her apartment.

"Okay..." Karen said slowly before walking to her kitchen to start a pot of coffee, hoping that would entice him to stay.

"What are you working on?" Frank asked as he saw all the papers that littered her coffee table.

"Oh, um, Matt has a new neighbor at work and I was curious." Karen explained.

"Why? You look into everyone that gets close to him?" Frank inquired with a raised eyebrow. "The real jealous type huh?" Frank bemused.

"It's not that..." Karen deflected. "You wouldn't know anything about her, would you?" Karen asked, trying especially hard to keep her suspicion out of her tone.

"She looks like a classy dame," Frank concluded as he looked at the one picture Karen was able to find.

"Yeah, she is," Karen allowed.

"You've met her?" Frank asked.

"Yeah, she invited Matt and I to stay for lunch, they were having Mediterranean food, buffet style." Karen explained. "Although it makes me wonder why she would settle in Hell's Kitchen if her business is global," Karen commented.

"Who knows," Frank shrugged.

"You wouldn't by chance be able to tail her would you? Matt has some doubts about her and I want to make sure he doesn't have anything to worry about." Karen inquired as she got him a cup of coffee.

"I can already tell just by looking at her, no one has anything to worry about." Frank affirmed.

"How do you know that though? You can tell just by looking at a picture of someone?" Karen repeated, not believing him for a second.

"Look, you'll be wasting your time looking into her, she's done nothin wrong," Frank argued.

"How would you know?" Karen repeated.

"All this chick has done is move into an office near Murdock and you're putting her under a magnifying glass for that?" Frank repeated.

"Matt has a bad feeling about her." Karen defended.

"So what? I'm sure I didn't give him the best feelings either, and yet, you're safe with me," Frank pointed out.

"So I need to just trust that because you looked at one picture of a woman you can tell she's ok?" Karen argued back.

"Yeah you do," Frank affirmed.

"Why are you so defensive about her?" Karen asked boldly.

"I need to get out of here," Frank finally said as he put the cup of coffee down on the table and left.

Karen let out a frustrated growl as she picked the coffee mug up and dumped the coffee down the drain.

Karen sat on the couch and stewed before it dawned on her. Where would Frank Castle have met and befriended Nova? The Marines.

Meanwhile, back in Rome…

"So this is everything?" Vanessa inquired as she took the dossier from one of Fisk's intelligence gatherers.

"Yes," He confirmed.

"Well, well, well, hello there Miss Page..." Vanessa grinned as she opened it on the table on the veranda on her estate. "Let's get to know each other, shall we?" Vanessa asked rhetorically.

* * *

 _Author's notes-_

 _As I'm sure you can tell, this is unbetaed but yay an update, yay. (low key sarcasm)_

 _So for new characters we have Camilla, who in my mind is played by the lovely Thandie Newton. Thanks for reading. ;)_


	6. Super Nova

_Warning!- this chapter contains mentions of rape and abuse. Rated M for these reasons._

Subject Unknown

Chapter 6

Karen changed her research tactics, looking through Frank's missions he ran while he was in the Middle East. Before long, she found one of the team leaders who had recently retired. He didn't live too far away either. "Jackpot," Karen grinned. It was only the evening so she went ahead and called the guy.

"Hello is this Commander Jackson Pledge?" Paige inquired.

"Yes?" He answered, slipping back into his military tone.

"Hello, this is Karen Page with the New York Bulletin, I understand that for a few missions you presided over, Frank Castle was under your command."

"Look, Frank Castle had Cornell Scroonover at the trail, he said what all of us who worked with Frank would say." Jack defended about to hang up.

"Sir, I'm actually not calling about Frank Castle per say, I'm actually calling about a Lady Nova Sephira," Karen clarified.

"I don't know anyone even remotely close to that name." Jack argued.

"Ok, did you run any missions, where Frank would have befriended a young girl, possibly a teenager, she looks like she's of Indian, possibly Pakistani decent?" Karen rephrased.

"Is this a secure line?" Jack asked, his tone completely serious.

"I believe so," Karen answered slowly.

"Not good enough. You need to meet me..." Jack went on to give the address of a diner that was an extremely long drive away.

The next morning she took a long drive to Pennsylvania. She had to leave in the middle of the night to get there.

"Commander Pledge?" Karen asked the man who looked like he was waiting for someone.

"Sit down, call me Jack," Jack insisted.

"Coffee?" The waitress asked.

"Yes please," Karen graciously answered as she turned her coffee mug right side up on it's saucer so the waitress could fill it up.

"Can I get you something to eat darlin?" The waitress asked sweetly.

"Um," Karen paused.

"I would love the special today, extra toast please," Jack ordered.

"Same," Karen nodded.

"Coming right up." The waitress smiled.

"So do you have a picture of her?" Jack inquired after he took a sip of his coffee, sizing her up in the process.

"Yes, only one though." Karen answered, pulling out the folded up print out and handed it to him.

"Well I'll be damned, Super Nova, she survived." Jack said, a real sense of pride in his voice.

"Super Nova?" Karen asked as she wrote it down in her notepad.

"Yeah, this poor girl went through the seven circles of hell." Jack informed her.

"How do you know her?" Karen inquired.

"If I tell you this, it has to be off the record, you can't write about her or even allude to her so you put that notepad away." Jack insisted. "Phone too," Jack said as he held out his hand for Karen to put her phone in.

"Ok..." Karen hesitantly agreed and did as he asked.

"Now, I have a picture for you," Jack grinned as he turned her phone off before reached into his coat pocket. He pulled out an old and faded picture, it was the platoon with a young Nova, all smiles as they played cards, she was wearing their fatigues that dwarfed her frame.

"How long ago was this?" Karen asked as she scrutinized the photo.

"Over decade and a half ago, that poor girl and the kids with her." Jack nodded.

"Kids?" Karen repeated.

Jack took a deep breath before lowering his voice to barely above a murmur. Covering his mouth with his interlaced fingers as he clasped his hands together in front of him. "We were tasked with finding weapons of mass destruction. And we found them." Jack began. "They were the weapons, what came out later as 'Hydra' had them all locked up in the middle of nowhere, only accessible by helicopter. We suddenly had an explosion on radar, in an area we were assured no one went to, not even the goat herders. Funny part was there was no radiation, we set out and found Super Nova along with five others, two of them were infants, twins from what we could tell. They were walking aimlessly in the dessert, we found them and Super Nova had...what I can only call, a force field around them, like from Star Trek. Her and another teenage boy were the oldest of them. A little Asian girl seemed to read our minds and told Super Nova to put the shield down. When she did, she could hardly breathe. We took them back to base camp, put Super Nova on oxygen and got the others all the medical treatment we could, while the rest of us went back to the source of the explosion..." Jack clenched his jaw and his hands as he recalled the memory, a vein in his forehead seemed to bulge slightly.

"What did you find?" Karen asked softly.

"The seventh circle of hell," Jack answered.

"Everyone who wasn't killed by the blast, was dead on the floor, all clutching either their arms or their chest. We found special plexiglass cells, all had the doors blasted off, we found...unspeakable things." Jack whispered, his gaze was off into an unknowable distance. "We found paperwork and files on the computers that weren't damaged. Those poor kids, were orphaned, experimented on with unimaginable cruelty. And Super Nova? We found evidence that a few of scientists had raped her, repeatedly, harvested the unborn fetuses and used them for stem cell research, most of the time, injecting Super Nova with the same stem cells they harvested from her unborn children, sick fucks," Jack spit out.

Karen sat, slack jawed and stared agape at him. "Heaven forbid," Karen whispered.

"Yeah, you see why we're all protective over these kids?" Jack asked rhetorically.

"What we also found was that Nova, she had birth defect, a double heart, it takes up a lot of her chest cavity, that's why she can get out of breath quickly. But when she wants to, that double heart of hers can put out an EMP the size Rhode Island. If you're not wearing a special vest when she goes off, it feels like you're having a heart attack, or at the least, a punch in the chest given by a heavy weight boxer. Thus the name." Jack explained.

"I see," Karen nodded as she picked into her eggs.

"So how do you know her?" Jack asked as he dug into his breakfast himself.

"She opened up a branch of her business above my old employer's office," Karen answered.

"Oh yeah? Little Nova has her own business now?" Jack repeated.

"Voxhe Temptet," Karen supplied as she pulled the business card out of her pocket that she had had the photo of Nova in.

"That's _hilarious_ ," Jack laughed.

"Why is that funny?" Karen inquired.

"One of the soldiers, her nick name was Vox, she was a fox, the joke was she was a violent fox, so Vox. And one of her 'catch phrases' was 'he tempted it,' 'it' being fate." Jack recalled.

"What happened to her? To Vox?" Karen inquired.

"She died, saving Nova, the people who oversaw the program she was in before, came after us, came after them. That's when we really got to see those kids in action, they fought with powers I didn't know existed. Straight out of science fiction. I remember Nova, she could teleport from place to place, slow down time with that heart of hers, she was a blur...she was brutal. She would chop off guy's limbs, even the ones we joke about being limbs, leave a torso with a head attached." Jack remembered with a bit of a shudder. "She had heart and she had _**rage**_." Jack stressed.

"So what happened after that?" Karen inquired, intrigued by the story.

"An orphanage, a school, for gifted youngsters, took them in. They contacted us and Minnie, the little Asian girl assured them and us that everything was going to be ok. But I never knew if they made it to adulthood, those kids were fucked up medically, the doctors at the base said that they if they made it adulthood, it would be a miracle. We never heard from them again. But now I'm guessing they still kept in touch with the men. They bonded pretty tight." Jack mused as he finished his breakfast before asking for the check.

"Well, thank you for letting me know all this." Karen said somberly.

"Thank you for not telling. Tell Frank I said 'hi'." Jack nodded as he took the check and paid for both of them. Karen left what she hoped was a good tip the waitress as she picked up her things and left.

Once back at her apartment she was only slightly startled to see Frank sitting in her living room.

"Where did you go today?" Frank inquired.

"To see Commander Jackson Pledge," Karen admitted bravely.

"You just couldn't let the Nova thing go," Frank shook his head.

"He says 'hi'," Karen offered.

"Well, are you satisfied?" Frank inquired.

"I'm sorry," Karen apologized. "I had no idea,"

"No one ever does," Frank murmured. "Maybe now you'll cut her some slack," Frank hoped.

"Yeah, I was thinking, actually, of taking her up on that offer she made me about self defense and the conceal carry thing." Karen revealed.

"Really?" Frank asked. Karen could see it in his face he was pleased with that.

"Yeah," Karen nodded.

"I'm happy to see you're safe and sound." Frank said as he moved to get up. "Do yourself a favor, next time you see Nova, let her know that you know, sooner than later. She doesn't like people knowing her past. But show her, that she can trust you, like I trust you," Frank urged.

Karen decided that she probably needed to see Nova the next day but at the moment, she was about to fall over.

After a nap that turned into her sleeping until the next morning, she called Voxhe from the number off the brochure and set up a private consultation.

Nova was waiting for her in the lobby as Karen walked in.

"Good morning, welcome back to Voxhe Temptet. Would you like some coffee?" Nova offered as she gestured to a small coffee stand.

"Yes, thank you," Karen accepted as she helped herself not only to the coffee but one of the muffins in the basket beside the carafes of coffee.

"Follow me," Nova invited as she gestured for Karen to follow.

"So, what are you looking for in your security detail?" Nova inquired as they sat at her desk in her office.

"Um, actually, before we start that, I was told I needed to tell you something." Karen began, taking a deep breath. "Frank Castle told me to show you that you can trust me the way he trusts me,"

"Alright..." Nova said slowly as her eyebrows knit together.

"I was curious about you and so I did some research,"

"And what did you find?" Nova inquired evenly, her hands underneath the top of the desk, her finger hovering under her silent alarm button as the other gripped a gun that was secured just under the bottom drawer of her desk.

"I found that you were a victim of abuse, in every form." Karen began. "And that your double heart puts out an EMP the size of a small state because of medical enhancement." Karen uttered carefully.

"So are you wanting hush money? Or rat me out to the press or whoever is willing to pay the highest price for that information?" Nova asked, gripping the gun tighter.

"No, no, none of that. You're secret it safe with me," Karen tried to assure her.

"Is that so?" Nova inquired before she leaned over and pulled out the file that had been compiled on Karen's behalf.

"What can you say, that will prove to me that the woman sitting in that chair, is not the same woman I found all of this on." Nova implored as she put the folder on the desk between them.

Meanwhile, across town…

"I got those concert tickets you asked for," Ambre said as she presented Foggy with an envelope.

"And VIP passes back stage, you're the best Hombre!" Foggy cajoled.

"Oui," Ambre laughed at his reaction. "You paid quite a bit extra for that."

"Hey, you want to come with me?" Foggy invited.

"I thought..." Ambre began. "I thought you would take Marci?" Ambre queried.

"Oh she's not into this kind of music, let me guess, not your cup of tea either?" Foggy guessed.

"I have never heard of them but I am always up to trying new things," Ambre shrugged.

"Then you are in for a treat," Foggy grinned.

"I do have one stipulation," Ambre pointed out.

"And that is?"

"That this is not a date," Ambre insisted.

"Absolutely not a date," Foggy assured her.

"Perfect," Ambre nodded before turning to go back to her desk.

Back in Nova's office.

"So you have every good reason to have security, Fisk, chooses the people around him carefully. So good for you for taking charge and killing Mr. Wesley. So, the key is discretion. I'm going to let you choose a female companion, I have several to choose from who are currently free for this kind of assignment, they can be as close as a roommate, or as far as a co-worker and anywhere in between. They will be self sufficient, they will chip in for groceries, utilities, half the rent, however you want it to be." Nova offered.

"There's no way I could afford that," Karen argued.

"You can afford free," Nova bargained.

"That doesn't seem fair," Karen countered.

"This is a favor to Frank, it's more than fair, he's told me how much you've helped him and done for him and _been there_ for him." Nova vouched. "And as an act of faith in your goodwill, I will take you gun shopping but first, gun safety lessons," Nova insisted as she stood up and escorted Karen to their gun training room.

Foggy knocked on Ambre's door to find Ambre on the other side. She was wearing the band's t-shirt, jeans, sneakers, and a zip up hoodie. It was, in Foggy's opinion, _perfect_. Once in his car, he played the band's album so Ambre could get used to the music. Much to his delight, Ambre was a quick study and soon learned a few of the songs. At the concert, Ambre surprised herself by singing along and swaying slightly to the music. She got hit on repeatedly but never lost her cool, until, one unlucky bastard had the gumption to grab her ass. She didn't hesitate to turn around and punch him square in the nose before kicking him in the groin, hard. "Never touch me again," Ambre hissed at the man who had fallen to his side.

"Whoa," Foggy murmured in awe. "I could have handled that for you." Foggy offered.

Ambre raised an eyebrow at him.

"You're right," Foggy nodded.

Ambre surprised herself further back stage as she easily conversed with the band mates, doing her best to ask insightful questions, like the meaning behind certain songs and where the song writer of the group found his inspiration. Foggy thoroughly enjoyed seeing this down to earth side to her. The side that easily laughed and smiled, the side that was a great conversationalist. An all-around delight.

After the concert they went to a diner.

Karen came home, sore, her hands hurt, her trigger finger especially.

"Here," Frank offered, placing a pack of frozen peas in her hand.

"That obvious?" Karen softly laughed.

"It's gonna hurt." Frank sympathized. "But you'll get used to it, you're bad ass," Frank complimented.

Karen gave a short laugh before moving the peas around her hand.

"I'm proud of you," Frank offered as he sat next to her on the couch, casually laying his arm on the back of it.

"For what?" Karen asked, subconsciously leaning into him.

"For taking this into your own hands, you never quit, you're never afraid to call bull shit. And for being up front about it, especially with Nova," Frank explained.

"Did she call you?" Karen inquired.

"I called her," Frank answered. "Had to make sure you survived," Frank lightly teased, bringing his arm down to drape over her shoulders.

"Are the people who did that to her, still after her?" Karen asked.

"Oh yeah, they actually tried to kidnap her and Layla, didn't work out for em. They didn't walk away. From what I keep readin, you're tight with Red, he was there, he helped from what I heard." Frank posed.

"He doesn't tell me everything but he told me her dogs are science fiction," Karen shrugged.

"Yeah they are," Frank laughed. "We refer to them as 'the girls'. Four of the biggest dogs you've ever seen, but you would have to ask Nova about the science fiction part." Frank shrugged.

"Would you go for dinner with her?" Frank asked after a comfortable silence.

"Nova? Uh, sure, if she invited me to." Karen answered.

"Tomorrow night, she's having me over for dinner, I want you to come with me, meet the girls." Frank invited, tightening his arm around her ever so slightly.

"Are you sure that would be ok with her?" Karen posed.

Frank smirked before taking the phone out of his pocket to show Karen the screen.

'You should have Karen come over for dinner sometime, I'm free Wednesday,' Nova had messaged only moments earlier.

"Good morning Matt," Nova greeted the next morning.

"Good morning Nova," Matt greeted in return, a smile crossing his features as he moved to let her and the girls into his apartment.

"Have you gotten a chance to eat breakfast yet?" Nova inquired as she took a seat on the couch before taking her phone out and scrolling through different places to eat breakfast at.

"No," Matt grinned as he straightened his tie.

"Good, there's a new place that serves laksa that just opened up." Nova baited.

"Laksa?" Matt repeated.

"It's a dish in south east Asia, it's noodles, curry, shrimp or chicken,"

"Doesn't sound like breakfast," Matt laughed.

"Come on I'm trying to widen your horizons," Nova contested.

"And I still have nightmares," Matt protested.

"The curry was, I'll admit, a bit on the hot side." Nova allowed as she remembered the memory in fondness.

"A bit," Matt repeated, unbelieving. "I'll take cereal," Matt teased as he reached into his cupboard to grab the box of said cereal.

"Ok, ok, fine, there's a little French place I know of that I don't think you've been to." Nova brokered as she got off the couch and stopped his arm from reaching into his cupboard.

"Are you going to let me pay?" Matt inquired.

"If you insist," Nova playfully sighed.

Nova and Matt walked arm in arm with the girls in tow as they made their way to the little French bistro laughing and thoroughly enjoying each others' company as they have ever since they made it part of their routine to go to work together just about every day and had gotten incredibly close in the process.

"Oh, hello Foggy," Nova greeted as they came into the bistro.

"Nova," Foggy greeted pleasantly. "Hey Matt,"

"Hey Foggy," Matt greeted, doing his best to keep as pleasant as possible.

"Are you indulging that assistant of yours?" Nova gently teased.

"Yeah, she has me hooked on this French bread with butter," Foggy answered as the baker handed him a baguette over the counter.

"And has you straying from bagels?" Nova gasped teasingly.

"Shh," Foggy hushed with a smile and a blush.

"Shh," Nova shushed herself sarcastically.

"Breakfast date?" Foggy inquired as he nodded to the two of them.

Nova bit her lips as Matt started to stammer.

"Oh, I don't think so," Nova finally said although the tone was almost a question.

"Ok, well you kids have a good one," Foggy chuckled softly as he left.

"That was awkward," Nova laughed nervously for a moment as she shook her head before taking a seat at one of the small tables nearby. "Oh that desk I told you about should be ready for a trial run in a few days," Nova invited as Matt sat across from her.

"That fast?" Matt inquired, surprised.

"Yeah, Mr. Stark needed the diversion apparently, since the Sokovia Accords, things have been 'complicated' from what I can tell, so he had some time and energy to spare," Nova enlightened. "If the prototype works, it will change everything for blind people everywhere, especially children, I told him that I would contract the work out for schools and childrens hospitals and libraries everywhere, well at least in the major cities. That seemed to also pique his interest."

"How are you going to pay for it? The security business can't be that lucrative." Matt frowned in contemplation.

"I just landed a new account," Nova grinned.

"Some rapper?" Matt chuckled.

"Something like that." Nova grinned as the waitress came to take their order.

"So will go with me to check it out?" Nova inquired after the waitress left.

"I think I should be able to make it." Matt smiled.

"Perfect, we'll take the helicopter," Nova offered. "Gidjet says she has perfected the earphones for you so your senses won't go berserk."

"Yeah I don't want a repeat of that one time." Matt shook his head.

"Agreed, for both our sakes." Nova nodded as she took a sip of her coffee.

* * *

 _Author's notes- this chapter is again unbetaed. I am trying to merge everyone's timelines. And I know we haven't seen or heard from the Matt/Nova pairing until this chapter and suddenly boom there it is, I'm trying to make it a lot more gradual than the others. Also we have a new character- Jack who in my mind is played by Ron Perlman._


	7. DEDI

Subject Unknown

Chapter 7

Matt walked arm in arm with Nova as they came into Stark Tower.

"Nervous?" Nova whispered before they came to the front desk.

"I shouldn't be," Matt smiled.

"Oh come on, to have a new technology designed with you in mind doesn't do it for you?" Nova teased before turning her attention to the receptionist.

"Hello, my name is Lady Sephira and this is my associate Mr. Murdock. We are here to meet with Tony Stark." Nova informed her.

"Yes, they should be waiting for you on floor 59, here are your passes." The receptionist replied as she offered two visitor ID badges.

Nova took them and fastened one to Matt's lapel before clipping her own to herself. They made their way to the designated area having one of Tony's assistants there waiting for them.

"Lady Sephira and Mr. Murdock I presume," Tim greeted.

"I take it Mr. Stark isn't here to show us the prototype himself." Nova smiled.

"No, I'm here," Tony said as he came into the room.

"Oh, Mr. Stark, pleasure to meet you," Nova greeted happily. "May I introduce my friend, Mr. Matthew Murdock,"

"Pleasure is all mine, might we meet DEDI?"

"It has a name now," Nova grinned as they followed Mr. Stark to the adjoining lab where a simple black desk stood.

"Dedi is so sleek and stylish." Nova praised.

"Ok, give me a devise please," Tony demanded holding out his hand.

"Here," Nova offered as she put her cell phone in Tony's hand.

"Aww, cute kid," Tony remarked at the back ground picture before placing the phone directly onto the surface of the desk.

Nova gasped as suddenly a relief of the picture raised itself on the surface of the desk.

"If you may," Tony gestured before Nova took Matt's hands and placed them to the picture.

"What is this made out of?" Matt inquired as his sensitive fingers explored the picture.

"Well, I think the closest thing I've come across is Disney-ite," Tony shrugged.

"What?" Matt asked, his confusion clear.

"Back in the late 80's and early 90's Disney adapted 'Beauty and the Beast' to a musical cartoon, part of the curse in that movie was that people who lived in the castle were no longer human, they turned into various house hold items like chairs, stoves, teapots. The artists and animators struggled with giving life to everyday objects like a clock and a candle stick, wondering how they, being made out wood and metal respectively would move fluidly, so the director told them to imagine that they were made out of Disney-ite so that these objects would feel like wood and metal but would actually move fluidly." Tim explained.

"I think you may have already gone blind by that point tho," Nova ventured.

"I remember hearing about the movie." Matt nodded.

"Well, lucky for you guys, in a few months you might be able to 'watch' it here on the desk," Tony offered.

"You'll be able to 'watch' a lot of stuff," Tim added.

"Production will be slow going though." Tony warned.

"That's fine, I always prefer quality vs quantity, I can't imagine what this will mean for blind children everywhere." Nova smiled brightly.

"Now when can we expect delivery on this Dedi?" Matt inquired.

"A few more months," Tim speculated.

"Excellent," Matt grinned.

Meanwhile, across town, Karen was trying to help Frank nurse his latest wound.

"I'm sorry I'm ruining your day," Frank grimaced as Karen applied another bandage.

"You're not," Karen assured him.

"What's wrong?" Frank inquired, studying her features closely.

Karen blew out a frustrated sigh. "Just things going sideways at work," Karen grumbled.

"How?" Frank asked.

"The new girl is stealing all the spot light, her stories are making the first three pages if not the cover. It's like shes always right there in the middle of everything. Any time there's anything happening she's right there with the scoop. And I'm left holding whatever is left over which never seems to add up to much." Karen murmured.

"How's the 'roommate'?" Frank instigated, trying to change Karen's mood.

"She's fine, it's actually working out pretty well, she's been there for me and covered for me when..."

"When I need you." Frank supplied.

"Yeah, and she's not nosy either but still good to talk to, I can trust her." Karen smirked.

"That's rare," Frank appraised.

"Yeah it is. I just wonder how long all of this is going to go on for." Karen ventured.

"What do you mean?" Frank inquired.

"I mean Nova and her people can't be there for us all the time, one of these days, they won't be there and if we, I mean if I start to depend on them too much, I'll be at a greater loss when they go." Karen speculated.

Frank nodded in agreement. "So what else is bothering you?" Frank deduced.

"I'm worried about Matt, he's gotten so close to Nova, she's...international, and all he's ever known is Hell's Kitchen and he won't leave and I don't think Nova will settle here. And when she leaves, it's not an if, it's a when, I don't know if I can be there to pick up the pieces again." Karen breathed.

"Why is it your job to do that?" Frank asked bluntly.

"He's...my friend." Karen defended.

"Really?" Frank questioned.

"It's complicated." Karen brushed off.

"Are you still in love with him?" Frank continued.

"No, I'm not, he's obviously moved on,"

"What with Nova?" Frank asked.

"Before that, I..." Karen began before lulling her head back and stared at the ceiling. "Back when we were dating, I walked in on him with another woman, they weren't doing anything but she was laying in his bed. She looked..."

"She looked like what?"

"I don't know, I never saw her again and Matt would never tell me about her or explain what she was doing there." Karen recalled, her bitterness casting a stain to her words. "She just, looked, 'exotic' and Nova's the same and even though Matt's blind, he obviously has a type and I was never it." Karen lamented self conciously.

"So you're still hung up on him." Frank concluded.

"No! I don't know. I mean part of me wants him to be happy and the other part of me...I don't know, that's why people say 'it's complicated'." Karen groaned.

"He ain't worth all this," Frank said softly.

"If he let other women come between you two, he never deserved you." Frank offered. "Hell, I don't deserve you, but I won't say no to your company, I'll take you over Nova or anyone else any day."

Karen was a bit dumbstruck over that. They had gotten close but something about this moment would probably always be memorable.

Foggy was doing his best to keep his nerves to a minimum. Ambre accompanied him to the courthouse, she had a garment bag in tow. Two extra shirts, duplicates of the shirt he was already wearing as well as a duplicate tie and a spare in the event he got any of it dirty or soiled.

Foggy didn't know how he could get on without her. She was a Swiss army assistant. She had gotten perscription strength deodorant, amazing smelling cologne, she even had a small sewing kit in the case should he loose a button or something. She was like his own personal cheer leader. She always sat directly behind him in court. She was never even asked to be there, it just became a given that she assisted him in everything both in the office and in the courtroom. He was forever grateful.

"Is there any more leverage we can find?" Venessa inquired as she took another compiled file from one of Fisk's men.

"We can keep looking but this is all we can find right now." He answered.

"Keep me updated. Do you have any news from Mr. Fisk?" She asked.

"He's asking you to hold off just a little longer before you both can put this plan into action." He replied.

"Make sure we will have everything in place so that when that time comes, there will be no delays." Venessa stressed.

"Yes Ma'am," He nodded before he took his leave from her.

Vanessa stood and looked out toward the distance seemingly at nothing in particular before leaning over to grasp her glass of wine. She swirled it a little before taking a sip.

"What is it that they say? Revenge is a dish best served cold? I think I would prefer mine, scorched." She murmured to herself, grinning as she took another sip of wine.

* * *

Author's notes- again, another unbetaed chapter. DEDI stands for

Digitally

Enhanced

Dual

Interface


	8. Extraction

Subject Unknown

Chapter 8

Nova was playing with Layla in the apartment before her phone buzzed.

"Yes?" She answered.

"We have movement, I repeat we have movement, the trap is about to get set off. We need to get operation Three Musketeers in motion." Shadow yelled into the phone as she was directing everything from the command center at Voxhe.

"Layla, get your vest on and help me vest the girls." Nova instructed as she went to a dresser and got a blue tooth ear piece out and put it in her ear.

"How long?" Nova asked Shadow.

"You've got three minutes until they reach the sixth floor." Shadow answered as she watched the video feed of three heavily armed men walk calmly up the stairwell.

Layla's eyes widened as she scrambled to get up before she bolted for her room. Nova went across the hall and banged hard on Matt's door.

"What's going on?" Matt asked as he came to the door, still in his sweat pants.

"Do you have a go bag?!" Nova demanded.

"Uh..." Matt stammered.

"We got to go! Grab whatever you can't live without that you can carry," Nova ordered.

Matt didn't hesitate, he went to the chest and grabbed his father's old boxing robe that concealed his Daredevil suit and wadded it up in a bundle.

"Go to my apartment!" Nova shouted as she followed closely behind, locking his apartment door before rushing in, setting the alarm and put on her emergency vest. Layla had gotten two of the four dogs vested before Nova took the other two and hastily vested the other two before tethering Layla then tethering the girls before taking her last tether and wrapping it around Matt and teleporting them to her office.

Matt fell to his knees as he coughed and clutched his chest.

"What the hell?" Matt croaked before his senses flooded back to him. "Are we...in your office?" Matt asked before Angel came to his aid as Nova unwrapped the tether from him and taking her emergency vest off and taking the emergency vest off, giving Layla a quick kiss before taking the small portable oxygen tank and jogging to the command center.

"Yes you are, your chest will stop hurting in a moment." Angel tried to assure Matt.

"What is going on?" Matt demanded.

"Nelson Fisk is out for revenge, he sent men to your apartment to kill you, you got extracted by Nova." Angel tried to explain. "We are trying to secure Franklin Nelson and Karen Page as we speak."

"I need to help." Matt replied.

"You can help by staying here." Angel argued.

"No, I need…" Matt repeated as he unwrapped his suit from his father's robe.

"Holy shit," Angel breathed as she looked down at what was really in his hands. "If that is what I think it is, you need to tell Nova," Angel insisted.

Meanwhile

Ambre had been typing on her computer before her phone buzzed loudly. She chanced a glance at it and saw Nova calling.

Ambre looked around and answered it discreetly. "Why are you calling?" Ambre asked in a hushed tone.

"You need to get out of there, NOW!" Nova stressed.

"What happened?" Ambre asked as she subconsciously froze.

"Three Musketeers, they just reached the elevator, get Nelson and get out of there, they're packing."

"Merde," Ambre hissed as she shoved away from her desk and hastily opened the large bottom drawer and pulling the small but heavy black bag out. "I'm putting my ear piece in, walk me out," Ambre demanded.

"That's what I'm here for." Nova nodded as she got every camera in the building and surrounding streets onto all the computer screens as Chatter and the others worked furiously to look at the plans of the building again.

"Tell her to not take exit route A or B we're trying to see if C or D will work." Chatter relayed to Nova.

"Any word on Frank?" Nova asked the group.

"He's enroute," Chatter confirmed. "Karen is secure."

"Did you get that?" Nova asked.

"Oui," Ambre nodded as she finished putting the ear piece in her ear and went to a set of file cabinets and pulled out the bottom drawer where a larger and heavier duffel bag was waiting for her then she made a run for Foggy's office.

She burst through the door, causing Foggy to jump out of skin. "Get off the phone, we need to go, now!" She ordered.

"What's going on?" Foggy asked, startled at the abrupt change in her.

"People are here to kill you, we need to get out of here." Ambre growled as she went to a file cabinet in his office that he had never used, the large bottom drawer opening to her fingerprint to reveal black boots, a specialized gas mask and a bullet proof vest. "Put these on!" She ordered as she tossed them to him.

Foggy was scared but did as she told him to before his hands started to shake. When he slipped his feet into the heavy combat boots, he was astonished that they were not only his size but also fit him remarkably well. He looked over to Ambre who in record time had stripped her outfit off and was hastily putting on her own combat gear, complete with guns, bombs and knives.

"Jesus!" Foggy exclaimed. "Who are you?" Foggy asked.

"Now is not the time for questions." Ambre shot back as she dug through the larger duffel bag before finding her assault rifles, a FAMAS and an M4A1, putting silencers on the ends and loading them with huge magazine clips before tossing the ammunition bag to Foggy. "Carry this, don't drop it. You stay as close to me as you can, keep up and we can get out of this alive." Ambre emphasized before taping her earpiece.

"Ready to move," She said before putting her FAMAS to her shoulder and putting her other hand to the door.

"Ok, stay low, and leave on my count." Nova instructed as she watched the monitors.

Ambre crouched and Foggy did the same as she just barely twisted the door handle.

"Wait, C and D won't work, they have guys waiting the stairwells. An air shaft wont hold them, tell her to fake shower sex and hide in the secret compartment in his bathroom, she won't make it out of his office otherwise." Chatter relayed.

"Oui" Ambre confirmed as she let go of the door handle and let her gun rest from it's strap around her shoulder.

"Take off all your clothes," Ambre insisted.

"Excuse me?" Foggy asked, completely sure he misheard her.

Ambre growled again as she deftly took his bullet proof vest off, yanked his tie off and ripped his shirt open before quickly undoing his belt.

"Out of the boots, out of the boots!" She urged. Foggy fell backwards in the process. "Ugh," Ambre exclaimed exasperated at his clumsiness. Before going after him and taking the boots off and pulling the rest of his clothes off so all he was left with was his underwear and an undershirt.

"That too!" Ambre said as she gestured to his remaining clothes.

"But?!"

"Do you want to live?! Then take it all off!" Ambre repeated as she helped him to his feet, taking his boots in one hand and his vest in the other as she marched to his bathroom in his office, a naked Foggy following her, holding her large duffel bag in front of him so as to try and hide his nakedness.

"Leave them on the floor," Ambre said as she counted the squares of an overly large 3D art piece in the bathroom. She pulled the designated cube out, revealing a shaft, twisting it 180 degrees before pushing it back in. The action allowed the whole picture to swing out, revealing a small room behind it.

"What did you do to my office?" Foggy asked, overwhelmed at what was happening to him.

Ambre didn't answer as she took a hidden phone from under the towels in the drawer and turned it on, putting sex sounds on and turning the volume up as she turned the water in the shower on to hot so the bathroom would steam up.

"Inside," Ambre said as she pushed him into the room and closed the door behind them only moments before Fisk's people burst into Foggy's office.

"Shh," Ambre whispered as she reached behind her to grab spare clothes for him.

Foggy got dressed as Ambre cast her eyes away as she continued to listen to Nova's call outs. Suddenly she pulled out her 45 caliber pistol and slowly and quietly twisted the silencer onto it before clicking a laser guide to the underside of the barrel before getting out a pair of yellowish tinted glasses, pulling out a second pair and putting them onto Foggy who had managed to get redressed. She turned out the light that was in that little room off after giving Foggy a quick kiss and putting his gas mask on over the glasses before putting on her own gas mask.

She cracked the door open ever so slightly to make sure that the bathroom was cleared, she crept out until Foggy was also out of the room. But he made the mistake of trying to shut the door behind him that made a sound.

Ambre froze and looked over her shoulder at him fixing him with a glare before a few of the goons came into view.

Without hesitation, Ambre fired at the two and shot them in the head and they fell to the ground dead.

However that only instigated more firing from the others that were in the room still.

Foggy cowered behind her as she peaked out the door briefly only to pull her head back quickly as more shots were fired into the door jam.

Ambre pulled a tear gas bomb off of her vest and threw it out into Foggy's office. The whole room quickly filled with smoke. However the glasses Ambre and Foggy were wearing allowed them to see through the smoke.

Ambre marched through the smoke, shooting the three remaining henchmen before opening Foggy's office door and throwing out a few more tear gas bombs into the rest of floor. Ambre took Foggy's hand and had him hold onto the back of her vest as she walked them out and into a stairwell. She then handed her pistol to Foggy. "Point and shoot, just not at me," Ambre smirked before bringing her FAMAS to her shoulder again and seemed to be counting down with the people talking in her earpiece.

She then very quickly went up the stairs, keeping her gun pointed up until she froze and pushed Foggy into the corner to shield him from the sudden down pour of bullets.

"Extraction any time now," Ambre said into her earpiece.

"Get to the roof! We only see four guys in two groups of two." Nova ordered.

Ambre took a few big breaths before taking smoke bombs off of her vest and throwing them throughout the stairwell to give them some cover as they moved up the stairwell, the occasional bullet still flying pass them as they did so.

They manage, by a miracle, to make to the top of the stairwell before more bullets came shooting up the stairwell at them. Ambre pushed the door open to the roof and checked to make sure it was clear before she grabbed Foggy and pulled him out, she shut the door behind her. She then pulled out one of her batons and put it through the handle of the door and setting a small charge above it.

Her ears searched for the sound of the chopper before she heard it. But it wasn't Nova's chopper, it was Fisk's. Soon the guns on the chopper began shooting at them. Ambre pulled Foggy down behind one of the massive air conditioners before returning fire. Foggy attempted not to scream the whole time, failing miserably.

"I need an RPG!" Ambre screamed in frustration as she took cover to reload her weapons.

Then out of nowhere Nova's helicopter suddenly appeared directly over head and provided cover and counter fire for them. They lowered a ladder and a hook. Ambre put the duffel bag on the hook and told Foggy to climb the ladder.

Just as Foggy had climbed the first rung, Fisk's men were coming through the rooftop door. Ambre scrambled for a moment before she found the detonator and sent the charge on the door alight. Foggy clung to the ladder for dear life before looking up to see Nova's face, calling for him to climb it.

The explosion didn't have the desired affect, since more men came pouring out of the rooftop entrance, all wearing bullet proof vests and shooting at Foggy who had just gotten to the top of it. Chameleon tilted the chopper to shield Foggy from the fire but that also put Ambre out of reach of the ladder.

"Go without me!" Ambre screamed at them.

"No! We are not leaving without her!" Foggy screamed back.

"Angel, get that other chopper out of the sky!" Chameleon yelled as Angel redirected her mini gun from the other men shooting at Ambre on the rooftop to the other chopper as it maneuvered to take them down.

"I'm almost out of Ammo!" Angel informed the group.

"Here!" Triple offered as she got two RPG's from the back of the helicopter. She gave one to Angel as she shoulder mounted the other. The two took aim and fired at the other helicopter as it suddenly began to try and outmaneuver the assault. But it was no match for the smart RPG's which had no trouble tracing it and taking it out of the sky.

"Ambre still needs help!" Foggy insisted as he tore his eyes away from the crashing helicopter that had become a fire ball to Ambre who was running out of Ammo herself and options.

"I'll get her," Nova nodded.

"Wait! Take me!" Angel said as she scrambled to her feet, Triple and Angel both reaching out to the tethers on Nova's vest before they all took a step off the helicopter.

To Foggy's astonishment, they disappeared into thin air before they reappeared behind the line of guys shooting at Ambre.

Angel and Triple smiled as they took knives out of their pockets, holding them defensively before taking a run at the guys. A ball of energy suddenly bloomed from Nova's chest as she also ran forward, stopping only a few paces away to yell at the attackers to get their attention before bringing her hands into the ball of energy and seemed to grab handfuls of it and threw it at them. Each ball of energy destroyed the electronics on the offending shooters, exploding all the bullets in their guns and on their person before Angel and Triple used their knives to fight then kill all those they could come into contact with.

Nova rushed to Ambre's side to make sure Ambre wasn't wounded.

"Je vais bien," Ambre assured Nova.

"You sure?" Nova inquired again.

"Oui!" Ambre insisted.

"Let's get out of here!" Nova suggested with a wry smile.

"Thought you'd never ask!" Ambre sarcastically quipped.

"Make a run for it!" Nova told Ambre as they stood up and began to run toward the ladder, Triple and Angel following their lead and making a run for it, Nova made sure she was the last one on the ladder as the helicopter quickly flew away.

"One batch, two batch, penny and dime." Frank breathed as he sniped the rest of them from a nearby roof.

Nova climbed the rest of the ladder to the chopper as it flew from Foggy's office to Ambre's safe house.

Once on the roof, they made their way to the door that would lead into the building as the helicopter flew back to Voxhe. Foggy began to piece things together and didn't know if he should be furious or thankful.

* * *

 _Author's notes- again, an unbeted chapter. Ah, the extraction. Actually I wrote most of this chapter long before I wrote the others because if I didn't write it when it did, it might have lost it's whatever it is that can make action scenes what they are._


End file.
